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In citizen science (CS) projects, acquired knowledge about a specific topic is the most frequently acknowledged learning outcome. However, whether both citizens and scientists perceive the same knowledge to be relevant to citizens’ learning in such projects remains unknown. Thus, establishing coherence between citizens’ information needs and scientists’ intentions to inform as well as exploring the reasons for why some knowledge is more relevant from citizens’ and scientists’ perspectives could help to achieve agreement regarding what knowledge is relevant for learning outcomes on the side of the citizens. By using the Delphi technique, we accounted for scientists’ and citizens’ perspectives on the relevance of knowledge in three fields of research on urban ecology. In our Delphi study, an emerging consensus indicated an overlap in relevance among the experts. We then analyzed two dimensions of relevance, that is, to whom and for what the knowledge is relevant. Our analyses of the dimensions revealed that consensus was more likely when we accounted for content-related differences and structural differences such as the communicatory perspective. When we accounted for content-related differences, relevance was higher for problem-oriented knowledge; therefore, this should be the focus of CS projects that are designed to achieve learning outcomes.

Citizen science (CS) projects engage citizens for research purposes and promote individual learning outcomes such as scientific reasoning (SR) skills. SR refers to participants’ skills to solve problems scientifically. However, the evaluation of CS projects’ effects on learning outcomes has suffered from a lack of assessment instruments and resources. Assessments of SR have most often been validated in the context of formal education. They do not contextualize items to be authentic or to represent a wide variety of disciplines and contexts in CS research. Here, we describe the development of an assessment instrument that can be flexibly adapted to different CS research contexts. Furthermore, we show that this assessment instrument, the SR questionnaire, provides valid conclusions about participants’ SR skills. We found that the deep-structure and surface features of the items in the SR questionnaire represent the thinking processes associated with SR to a substantial extent. We suggest that practitioners and researchers consider these item features in future adaptations of the SR questionnaire. This will most likely enable them to draw valid conclusions about participants’ SR skills and to gain a deeper understanding of participants’ SR skills in CS project evaluation.

Animals access resources such as food and shelter, and acquiring these resources has varying risks and benefits, depending on the suitability of the landscape. Some animals change their patterns of resource selection in space and time to optimize the trade‐off between risks and benefits. We examine the circadian variation in resource selection of swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) within a human‐modified landscape, an environment of varying suitability. We used GPS data from 48 swamp wallabies to compare the use of landscape features such as woodland and scrub, housing estates, farmland, coastal areas, wetlands, waterbodies, and roads to their availability using generalized linear mixed models. We investigated which features were selected by wallabies and determined whether the distance to different landscape features changed, depending on the time of the day. During the day, wallabies were more likely to be found within or near natural landscape features such as woodlands and scrub, wetlands, and coastal vegetation, while avoiding landscape features that may be perceived as more risky (roads, housing, waterbodies, and farmland), but those features were selected more at night. Finally, we mapped our results to predict habitat suitability for swamp wallabies in human‐modified landscapes. We showed that wallabies living in a human‐modified landscape selected different landscape features during day or night. Changing circadian patterns of resource selection might enhance the persistence of species in landscapes where resources are fragmented and disturbed.

Roads can have significant impacts on wildlife populations by impeding movement, restricting access to resources and causing wildlife–vehicle collisions. In particular, wildlife–vehicle collisions represent a substantial conservation and social problem, and although mitigation measures are available, an increased understanding of the temporal and spatial patterns of animal movement around roads will enhance their effectiveness. We analysed GPS telemetry data from 47 swamp wallabies Wallabia bicolor on Phillip Island, south-east Australia, within patches of native vegetation dissected by roads. Our aims were to determine if (a) road crossing frequency was influenced by time period (day, night) or sex, (b) wallabies avoided roads, and if avoidance was influenced by time period or sex and (c) road crossing locations were associated with dense vegetation, and other habitat characteristics. We found that males crossed roads more often at night than during the day while females showed the opposite pattern. Further, wallabies avoided roads, with some evidence that avoidance increased at night (p = 0.07). The chance of a wallaby crossing roads with high speed limits (80–100 km h-1) increased with vegetation density during the day but not at night. In contrast, vegetation density had no influence on crossing locations along roads with lower (50–70 km h-1) speed limits during the day or night. Both vegetation density and vehicle speed may influence wallaby–vehicle collisions and suggest management strategies targeting these factors. Partial fencing guiding wallabies towards safer crossing locations, combined with other measures such as reduced speed limits and signage, could reduce collisions between vehicles and swamp wallabies on Phillip Island.

Studying species interactions and niche segregation under human pressure provides important insights into species adaptation, community functioning and ecosystem stability. Due to their high plasticity in behaviour and diet, urban mesocarnivores are ideal species for studying community assembly in novel communities.We analysed the spatial and temporal species interactions of an urban mesocarnivore community composed of the red fox Vulpes vulpes and the marten Martes sp. as native species, the raccoon Procyon lotor as invasive species, and the cat Felis catus as a domestic species in combination with human disturbance modulated by the SARS‐CoV‐2 lockdown effect that happened while the study was conducted.We analysed camera trap data and applied a joint species distribution model to understand not only the environmental variables influencing the detection of mesocarnivores and their use intensity of environmental features but also the species’ co‐occurrences while accounting for environmental variables. We then assessed whether they displayed temporal niche partitioning based on activity analyses, and finally analysed at a smaller temporal scale the time of delay after the detection of another focal species.We found that species were more often detected and displayed a higher use intensity in gardens during the SARS‐CoV‐2 lockdown period, while showing a shorter temporal delay during the same period, meaning a high human‐induced spatiotemporal overlap. All three wild species spatially co‐occurred within the urban area, with a positive response of raccoons to cats in detection and use intensity, whereas foxes showed a negative trend towards cats. When assessing the temporal partitioning, we found that all wild species showed overlapping nocturnal activities. All species displayed temporal segregation based on temporal delay. According to the temporal delay analyses, cats were the species avoided the most by all wild species. To conclude, we found that although the wild species were positively associated in space, the avoidance occurred at a smaller temporal scale, and human pressure in addition led to high spatiotemporal overlap.Our study sheds light to the complex patterns underlying the interactions in a mesocarnivore community both spatially and temporally, and the exacerbated effect of human pressure on community dynamics., This study contains many dimensions of ecological dynamics: human–wildlife interactions and human activities effects, ecological niche theory, species interactions and community assembly. In an urban environment, mesocarnivores displayed similar spatial requirements, their activities were concentrated during the night and the partitioning appears at a smaller temporal scale.

Porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) are integrated in the genome of pigs and are transmitted like cellular genes from parents to the offspring. Whereas PERV-A and PERV-B are present in all pigs, PERV-C was found to be in many, but not all pigs. When PERV-C is present, recombination with PERV-A may happen and the PERV-A/C recombinants are characterized by a high replication rate. Until now, nothing has been known about the copy number of PERVs in wild boars and little is known about the prevalence of the phylogenetically youngest PERV-C in ancient wild boars. Here we investigated for the first time the copy number of PERVs in different populations of wild boars in and around Berlin using droplet digital PCR. Copy numbers between 3 and 69 per genome have been measured. A lower number but a higher variability was found compared to domestic pigs, including minipigs reported earlier (Fiebig et al., Xenotransplantation, 2018). The wild boar populations differed genetically and had been isolated during the existence of the Berlin wall. Despite this, the variations in copy number were larger in a single population compared to the differences between the populations. PERV-C was found in all 92 analyzed animals. Differences in the copy number of PERV in different organs of a single wild boar indicate that PERVs are also active in wild boars, replicating and infecting new cells as has been shown in domestic pigs.

Background Porcine circovirus 3 is a newly described circovirus circulating worldwide. PCV3 may play an etiologic role in different pig diseases. Two different genotypes of PCV3 were described, PCV3a and PCV3b. In order to analyse whether PCV3 is also present in wild boars, animals living in and near Berlin were studied. The animals had been analysed previously and were found to form two genetically distinct and geographically coherent clusters. Methods To detect PCV3 in wild boars, a PCR was performed, to analyse the virus in detail, parts of the sequence of the capsid protein were sequenced. In addition, a screening for PCV1 and PCV2 was performed using PCR. Results For the first time, PCV3 was detected in German wild boars, with 50% of the animals infected in one genetic cluster, and 23% in the second cluster. In both populations which were divided in the years of division of Berlin, PCV3b was detected, in one case also PCV3a was detected. In some animals, co-infections with PCV1 and PCV2 or triple infections were detected. Conclusion The data show a high prevalence of PCV3 and co-infections with PCV1 and PCV2 in German wild boars. The finding of PCV3 in both clusters suggests that the virus was introduced into the animal populations before Berlin was divided. Furthermore, the methods used will be indispensable for screening for circoviruses in pigs genetically modified for xenotransplantation.

Summary Urban sprawl has resulted in the permanent presence of large mammal species in urban areas, leading to human–wildlife conflicts. Wild boar Sus scrofa are establishing a permanent presence in many cities in Europe, with the largest German urban population occurring in Berlin. Despite their relatively long-term presence, there is little knowledge of colonization processes, dispersal patterns or connectivity of Berlin's populations, hampering the development of effective management plans. We used 13 microsatellite loci to genotype 387 adult and subadult wild boar from four urban forests, adjacent built-up areas and the surrounding rural forests. We applied genetic clustering algorithms to analyse the population genetic structure of the urban boar. We used approximate Bayesian computation to infer the boar's colonization history of the city. Finally, we used assignment tests to determine the origin of wild boar hunted in the urban built-up areas. The animals in three urban forests formed distinct genetic clusters, with the remaining samples all being assigned to one rural population. One urban cluster was founded by individuals from another urban cluster rather than by rural immigrants. The wild boar that had been harvested within urban built-up areas was predominantly assigned to the rural cluster surrounding the urban area, rather than to one of the urban clusters. Synthesis and applications. Our results are likely to have an immediate impact on management strategies for urban wild board populations in Berlin, because they show that there are not only distinct urban clusters, but also ongoing source–sink dynamics between urban and rural areas. It is therefore essential that the neighbouring Federal States of Berlin and Brandenburg develop common hunting plans to control the wild boar population and reduce conflicts in urban areas.

Aim:Advancement in ecological methods predicting species distributions is a crucial precondition for deriving sound management actions. Maximum entropy (MaxEnt) models are a popular tool to predict species distributions, as they are considered able to cope well with sparse, irregularly sampled data and minor location errors. Although a fundamental assumption of MaxEnt is that the entire area of interest has been systematically sampled, in practice, MaxEnt models are usually built from occurrence records that are spatially biased towards better‐surveyed areas. Two common, yet not compared, strategies to cope with uneven sampling effort are spatial filtering of occurrence data and background manipulation using environmental data with the same spatial bias as occurrence data. We tested these strategies using simulated data and a recently collated dataset on Malay civet Viverra tangalunga in Borneo.Location:Borneo, Southeast Asia.Methods:We collated 504 occurrence records of Malay civets from Borneo of which 291 records were from 2001 to 2011 and used them in the MaxEnt analysis (baseline scenario) together with 25 environmental input variables. We simulated datasets for two virtual species (similar to a range‐restricted highland and a lowland species) using the same number of records for model building. As occurrence records were biased towards north‐eastern Borneo, we investigated the efficacy of spatial filtering versus background manipulation to reduce overprediction or underprediction in specific areas.Results:Spatial filtering minimized omission errors (false negatives) and commission errors (false positives). We recommend that when sample size is insufficient to allow spatial filtering, manipulation of the background dataset is preferable to not correcting for sampling bias, although predictions were comparatively weak and commission errors increased.Main Conclusions:We conclude that a substantial improvement in the quality of model predictions can be achieved if uneven sampling effort is taken into account, thereby improving the efficacy of species conservation planning. published

The experimental activation of retinoid receptors reduces pathological symptoms in animal models of multiple sclerosis. In order to assess the involvement of endogenous retinoid signaling during the process of demyelination we investigated retinoic acid synthesizing enzymes and nuclear receptors using the mouse model of cuprizone toxicity. The initiation of myelin degradation in the corpus callosum was accompanied with a local increase of retinaldehyde dehydrogenase (RALDH) immunoreactivity. On the level of receptors we observed a striking increase in protein expression of the retinoid X receptor (RXR)-? in the affected corpus callosum. The RXR? immunoreactivity appeared exclusively in astrocytes, where it reached a maximum at five weeks of treatment, following the RALDH response. In the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia of affected mice RXR? was also observed in neurons. Among nuclear receptor antigens RAR? showed a cuprizone associated increase in the corpus callosum. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed strong basal expression of RXR? and a significant, over 20-fold upregulation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-? during demyelination. The results indicate that compensatory mechanisms during central demyelination may engage nuclear receptor dimers with an RXR? partner.

The trade-off between predator avoidance and foraging is a key decision making factor that shapes an organism's adaptive behaviour and movement patterns. Human hunters act as top predators to influence the behaviour of free-ranging mammals, including large carnivorous species such as black bears (Ursus americanus). Analysing the effects of hunting on animal behavioural patterns is essential for understanding the extent to which animals detect and respond to human-induced disturbances. To this end, we assessed whether black bear movement behaviour changed with varying risk from spatially and temporally heterogeneous human predation. Levels of risk were categorized as either low (disturbance from dog training; n=19 bears) or high (disturbance from hunting activities; n=11 bears). Road types were either paved (risk due to vehicles) or non-paved (risk due to hunters) and were used as proxies for hunting effort and amount of disturbance. We began by testing the null hypothesis that bears' distribution before the onset of human disturbance is spatially random. Next, to test temporal movement adjustment between the low and high risk levels, we measured the distance to the nearest road and the road crossing frequency using mixed effects models with risk level, time of day and sex as predictor variables. As disturbance near non-paved roads increased due to the start of the hunting activity, the mean distances of bears to non-paved roads increased while the mean distances of bears to paved roads decreased, despite the continual risk of vehicle collision. These behavioural responses were observed during day and night, with the frequency of crossing paved roads at night five times greater than in daytime during the hunting season. Our findings demonstrate that black bears are able to detect risky places and adjust their spatial movements accordingly. More specifically, bears can perceive changes in the level of risk from human hunting activities on a fine temporal scale.