Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change
Abstract Climate change affects the behavior, physiology and life history of many Arctic wildlife species. It can also influence the distribution and ecology of infectious agents. The southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) has experienced dramatic behavioral change...
Published in: | Conservation Physiology |
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2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad054 https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article-pdf/11/1/coad054/50977844/coad054.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/conphys/coad054 2023-08-27T04:08:05+02:00 Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change Fry, Tricia L Owens, Leah A Ketz, Alison C Atwood, Todd C Dunay, Emily Goldberg, Tony L Hunt, Kathleen The Welder Wildlife Foundation U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Species and Land Management Programs of the Ecosystems Mission Area and the USGS Changing Arctic Ecosystems Initiative 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad054 https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article-pdf/11/1/coad054/50977844/coad054.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) Conservation Physiology volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2051-1434 Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecological Modeling Physiology journal-article 2023 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad054 2023-08-04T10:41:55Z Abstract Climate change affects the behavior, physiology and life history of many Arctic wildlife species. It can also influence the distribution and ecology of infectious agents. The southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) has experienced dramatic behavioral changes due to retreating sea ice and other climate-related factors, but the effects of these changes on physiology and infection remain poorly understood. Using serum from polar bears sampled between 2004 and 2015 and metagenomic DNA sequencing, we identified 48 viruses, all of the family Anelloviridae. Anelloviruses are small, ubiquitous infectious agents with circular single-stranded DNA genomes that are not known to cause disease but, in humans, covary in diversity and load with immunological compromise. We therefore examined the usefulness of anelloviruses as biomarkers of polar bear physiological stress related to climate and habitat use. Polar bear anelloviruses sorted into two distinct clades on a phylogenetic tree, both of which also contained anelloviruses of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), another ursid. Neither anellovirus diversity nor load were associated with any demographic variables, behavioral factors or direct physiological measures. However, pairwise genetic distances between anelloviruses were positively correlated with pairwise differences in sampling date, suggesting that the polar bear “anellome” is evolving over time. These findings suggest that anelloviruses are not a sensitive indicator of polar physiological stress, but they do provide a baseline for evaluating future changes to polar bear viromes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Beaufort Sea Climate change Sea ice Ursus maritimus Oxford University Press (via Crossref) Arctic Conservation Physiology 11 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Oxford University Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
topic |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecological Modeling Physiology |
spellingShingle |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecological Modeling Physiology Fry, Tricia L Owens, Leah A Ketz, Alison C Atwood, Todd C Dunay, Emily Goldberg, Tony L Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change |
topic_facet |
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law Nature and Landscape Conservation Ecological Modeling Physiology |
description |
Abstract Climate change affects the behavior, physiology and life history of many Arctic wildlife species. It can also influence the distribution and ecology of infectious agents. The southern Beaufort Sea (SB) subpopulation of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) has experienced dramatic behavioral changes due to retreating sea ice and other climate-related factors, but the effects of these changes on physiology and infection remain poorly understood. Using serum from polar bears sampled between 2004 and 2015 and metagenomic DNA sequencing, we identified 48 viruses, all of the family Anelloviridae. Anelloviruses are small, ubiquitous infectious agents with circular single-stranded DNA genomes that are not known to cause disease but, in humans, covary in diversity and load with immunological compromise. We therefore examined the usefulness of anelloviruses as biomarkers of polar bear physiological stress related to climate and habitat use. Polar bear anelloviruses sorted into two distinct clades on a phylogenetic tree, both of which also contained anelloviruses of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), another ursid. Neither anellovirus diversity nor load were associated with any demographic variables, behavioral factors or direct physiological measures. However, pairwise genetic distances between anelloviruses were positively correlated with pairwise differences in sampling date, suggesting that the polar bear “anellome” is evolving over time. These findings suggest that anelloviruses are not a sensitive indicator of polar physiological stress, but they do provide a baseline for evaluating future changes to polar bear viromes. |
author2 |
Hunt, Kathleen The Welder Wildlife Foundation U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Species and Land Management Programs of the Ecosystems Mission Area and the USGS Changing Arctic Ecosystems Initiative |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fry, Tricia L Owens, Leah A Ketz, Alison C Atwood, Todd C Dunay, Emily Goldberg, Tony L |
author_facet |
Fry, Tricia L Owens, Leah A Ketz, Alison C Atwood, Todd C Dunay, Emily Goldberg, Tony L |
author_sort |
Fry, Tricia L |
title |
Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change |
title_short |
Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change |
title_full |
Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change |
title_fullStr |
Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Serum Virome of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change |
title_sort |
serum virome of southern beaufort sea polar bears ( ursus maritimus ) during a period of rapid climate change |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad054 https://academic.oup.com/conphys/article-pdf/11/1/coad054/50977844/coad054.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Climate change Sea ice Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Climate change Sea ice Ursus maritimus |
op_source |
Conservation Physiology volume 11, issue 1 ISSN 2051-1434 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coad054 |
container_title |
Conservation Physiology |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1775348783305981952 |