Estimates of resource transfer via winged adult insects from the hyporheic zone in a gravel‐bed river

Hyporheic zone (HZ) locates below the riverbed providing habitat for macroinvertebrates from where the winged adult insects (i.e., hyporheic insects, HIs) emerge and bring out aquatic resources to the riparian zone. This study estimated mean daily flux as dry biomass (BM), carbon (C), and nitrogen (N) deriving from the dominant HI species Alloperla ishikariana (Plecoptera, Chloroperlidae) for a 4th‐order gravel‐bed river during the early‐summer to summer periods. We hypothesized that HIs were an important contributor in total aquatic resources to the riparian zone. In 2017 and 2018, we set parallelly (May to August) and perpendicularly (June to October) oriented Malaise traps to catch the lateral and longitudinal directional dispersing winged adults of A. ishikariana, and other Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, and Diptera from the river and estimated the directional fluxes of them. We further split the directional fluxes as moving away or back to the channel (for lateral) and from down‐ to upstream or up‐ to downstream (for longitudinal). Alloperla ishikariana was similar to other Plecoptera species and differed clearly from Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera in directional characteristics of resources flux, suggesting that the extent and directions of HZ‐derived resource transfer depend on taxon‐specific flight behaviors of HIs. Contributions of A. ishikariana to the riparian zone in total aquatic C and N transfer seasonally varied and were lower in May (5%–6%) and August (2%–4%) and the highest in July (52%–70%). These conservative estimates largely increased (9% in May) after the supplementary inclusion of Diptera (Chironomidae and Tipulidae), part of which were considered HIs. We demonstrated that HZ could seasonally contribute a significant portion of aquatic resources to the riparian zone and highlighted the potential importance of HZ in nutrient balance in the river‐riparian ecosystem.     

Validation testing to determine the sensitivity of lateral flow testing for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 detection in low prevalence settings: Testing frequency and public health messaging is key

Lateral flow devices (LFDs) are quickly being implemented for use in large-scale population surveillance programs for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the United Kingdom. These programs have been piloted in city-wide screening in the city of Liverpool and are now being rolled out to support care home visits and the return home of University students for the Christmas break. Here, we present data on the performance of LFDs to test almost 8,000 students at the University of Birmingham between December 2 and December 9, 2020. The performance is validated against almost 800 samples using PCR performed in the University Pillar 2 testing lab and theoretically validated on thousands of Pillar 2 PCR testing results performed on low-prevalence care home testing samples. Our data show that LFDs do not detect infections presenting with PCR Ct values over 29 to 30 as determined using the Thermo Fisher TaqPath asssay. This may be of particular importance in detecting individuals that are either at the early, or late stages of infection, and reinforces the need for frequent, recurrent testing.

Antigen-detecting lateral flow tests are faster than PCR tests in detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection and are being implemented for use in large-scale population surveillance in the UK. An evaluation of the performance of the lateral flow devices, validated using PCR, concludes that lateral flow devices do not detect infections presenting with higher PCR Ct values, reinforcing the need for frequent, recurrent testing.     

Copper-Impaired Chemosensory Function and Behavior in Aquatic Animals

Chemosensation is one of the oldest and most important sensory modalities utilized by aquatic animals to provide information about the location of predators, location of prey, sexual status of potential mates, genetic relatedness of kin, and migratory routes, among many other essential processes. The impressive sophistication of chemical communication systems among aquatic animals probably evolved because of the selective pressures exerted by water as a “universal solvent.” Impairment of chemosensation by toxicants at the molecular or cellular level can potentially lead to major perturbations at higher levels of biological organization. We have examined the consequences of metal-impaired chemosensory function in a range of aquatic animals that represents several levels of a typical aquatic ecosystem. In each case, low, environmentally relevant metal concentrations were sufficient to cause chemosensory dysfunction. Because the underlying molecular signal transduction machinery of chemosensory systems demonstrates a high degree of phylogenetic conservation, we speculate that metal-impaired chemosensation among phylogenetically disparate animal groups probably results from a common mechanism of impairment. We propose developing a chronic chemosensory-based biotic ligand model (BLM) that maintains the advantages of the current BLM approach, while simultaneously overcoming known difficulties of the current gill-based approach and increasing the ecological relevance of current BLM predictions.