Drastic Shift Research Articles

The Endophytic Plant Growth Promoting Methylobacterium oryzae CBMB20 Integrates and Persists into the Seed-Borne Endophytic Bacterial Community of Rice

Endophytic persistence of inoculated plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) involves interaction with the host plant and the host’s indigenous endophytic bacterial communities. This study investigated the persistence of Methylobacterium oryzae CBMB20 into the rice endosphere together with the impact of inoculation on the diversity and community structure of the root and shoot bacterial endophytes in Oryza sativa L. spp. indica cv. IR29. Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of the root and shoot showed that M. oryzae CBMB20 was able to integrate and persist in the rice endosphere without causing drastic shifts in bacterial endophytic diversity and community composition. The bacterial communities in the root and shoot are very similar to the seeds of IR29, suggesting that most of them are seed-borne. The root endosphere bacterial communities of inoculated and uninoculated IR29 plants are more diverse compared to the shoots in terms of richness and diversity indices. The dominant bacterial T-RFs of the root endosphere of IR29 belong to Microbacterium, Delftia, Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas and Stenotrophomonas, Herbaspirillum, Enterobacter, and Sphingomonas, as observed in the three restriction enzyme T-RFLP profiles. Bacterial clades identified as Curtobacterium, Enterobacter, Stenotrophomonas, and Xanthomonas were distinctly observed in both the root and shoot communities, and these bacterial groups are also the dominant endophytes of the shoot endosphere. This study showed that Methylobacterium oryzae CBMB20 could persist and incorporate into the endophytic bacterial community of the endosphere without causing long-term antagonistic interactions with its host plant and with the native microbiota.

Climate-Adapted Potential Vegetation—A European Multiclass Model Estimating the Future Potential of Natural Vegetation

Climate change will alter the site conditions for European vegetation. This is likely to shift the potential distribution of species and habitats outside its current boundaries. To enable future projections on shifts in vegetation potentials, we fitted a multiclass model to the current potential natural vegetation (PNV) of Europe using climatic predictors. The model was then applied to climate data of the time slice 2061–2080 with the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and RCP 8.5. With an accuracy of 0.78, simulations well represented the site-equivalent vegetation types of the current PNV across Europe. Projections show drastic shifts in vegetation potentials in all parts of Europe. Boreal forests could lose up to 75% of their current potential, while Mediterranean Quercus forests and steppes would double their potential area. Deserts are projected to be on the rice, and the potential of currently widespread vegetation such as Fagus forests would be translocated. These estimated alterations of European vegetation potentials could have great effects on the stability of current forests, affecting nature conservation strategies and forest management.

SPNE: sample-perturbed network entropy for revealing critical states of complex biological systems.

Complex biological systems do not always develop smoothly but occasionally undergo a sharp transition; i.e. there exists a critical transition or tipping point at which a drastic qualitative shift occurs. Hunting for such a critical transition is important to prevent or delay the occurrence of catastrophic consequences, such as disease deterioration. However, the identification of the critical state for complex biological systems is still a challenging problem when using high-dimensional small sample data, especially where only a certain sample is available, which often leads to the failure of most traditional statistical approaches. In this study, a novel quantitative method, sample-perturbed network entropy (SPNE), is developed based on the sample-perturbed directed network to reveal the critical state of complex biological systems at the single-sample level. Specifically, the SPNE approach effectively quantifies the perturbation effect caused by a specific sample on the directed network in terms of network entropy and thus captures the criticality of biological systems. This model-free method was applied to both bulk and single-cell expression data. Our approach was validated by successfully detecting the early warning signals of the critical states for six real datasets, including four tumor datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and two single-cell datasets of cell differentiation. In addition, the functional analyses of signaling biomarkers demonstrated the effectiveness of the analytical and computational results.

Students’ perception of asynchronous versus synchronous distance learning during COVID-19 pandemic in a medical college, southwestern region of Saudi Arabia

BackgroundCOVID-19 preventive measures required a drastic shift to online teaching-learning in most of countries. Institutions used different combinations of live online lectures (synchronous) requiring students to attend the class in real-time, as well as recorded lectures uploaded by the instructors to be accessed by students as per their own convenience (asynchronous). We undertook this study to assess and compare the perceptions of students regarding their learning experiences in the synchronous versus asynchronous mode of instruction using their teaching-learning during the compulsory online mode of instruction at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodologyThis cross-sectional questionnaire-based study received responses from 122 final-year medical students studying at the College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia. An online 5-point Likert scale-based questionnaire was used to collect data regarding experience and perception towards synchronous and asynchronous learning. Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. A P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.ResultAll the students found both synchronous and asynchronous learning to be equally satisfying, enjoyable and comfortable. No statistically significant difference was found when both the methods were analyzed for enhancement of knowledge. The students opined that asynchronous learning helped them manage their time better whereas synchronous learning encouraged more interaction during the live lectures.ConclusionOverall, the students' perceptions regarding both synchronous and asynchronous online learning were positive. As both methods have their advantages/limitations, a mix of both synchronous and asynchronous methods may be adopted depending upon the content of the topic and the desired learning outcomes.

A Method of Generating Real-Time Natural Light Color Temperature Cycle for Circadian Lighting Service.

The light intensity and color temperature of natural light periodically change and promote the circadian entrainment of the human body. In addition, the color temperature cycle of natural light that is unique to each region is formed by its location and geographic and environmental factors, affecting the health of its residents. Research on lighting and construction to provide the color temperature of real-time natural light has continued to provide the beneficial effect of natural indoor lighting. However, lighting technology that provides the real-time color temperature of natural light could not be realized since it is challenging to select a color temperature cycle zone due to abrupt color temperature changes at sunrise and sunset. Such drastic shifts cause an irregular measurement of color temperature over time due to general weather or atmospheric conditions. In a previous study, a method of generating a color temperature cycle using deep learning was introduced, but the performance at the beginning and end of the color temperature cycle was unreliable. Therefore, this study proposes generating a real-time natural light color temperature cycle for the circadian lighting service. The characteristics of the daily color temperature cycle were analyzed based on the measured natural light characteristics database, and a data set for learning was established. To improve the color temperature cycle generation performance, a deep learning (TadGAN) model was implemented by searching for the lowest point of the color temperature at the start and end points of the color temperature cycle and applying the boot and ending datasets to these points. The color temperature cycle zone was accurately detected in real-time in the experiment, and the generation performance of the color temperature cycle was maintained at the beginning and end of the color temperature cycle. The mean absolute error decreased by about 67%, confirming the generation of a more accurate real-time color temperature cycle.

Zoledronic acid targets chemo-resistant polyploid giant cancer cells

Although polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) are known as a key source of failure of current therapies, sufficient drugs to target these cells are not yet introduced. Considering the similarities of polyploid cells in regeneration and cancer, we hypothesized that zoledronic acid (ZA), an osteoclast-targeting agent, might be used to eliminate PGCCs. The 5637-bladder cancer cell line was treated with various doses of cisplatin to enrich polyploid cells and the efficacy of different concentrations of ZA in reducing this population was assessed. The metabolic profile of PGCCs was investigated with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Lipid profiles, mitochondrial density, and ROS content were also measured to assess the response of the cells to ZA. Cancer cells surviving after three days of exposure with 6 μM cisplatin were mainly polyploid. These cells demonstrated special morphological features such as fusion with diploid or other polyploid cells and originated in daughter cells through budding. ZA could substantially eradicate PGCCs with the maximal effect observed with 50 μM which resulted in the drop of PGCC fraction from 60 ± 7.5 to 19 ± 1.7%. Enriched PGCCs after cisplatin-treatment demonstrated a drastic metabolic shift compared to untreated cancer cells with an augmentation of lipids. Further assays confirmed the high content of lipid droplets and cholesterol in these cells which were reduced after ZA administration. Additionally, the mitochondrial density and ROS increased in PGCCs both of which declined in response to ZA. Taken together, we propose that ZA is a potent inhibitor of PGCCs which alters the metabolism of PGCCs. Although this drug has been successfully exploited as adjuvant therapy for some malignancies, the current evidence on its effects on PGCCs justifies further trials to assess its potency for improving the success of current therapies for tackling tumor resistance and relapse.

Large-scale submarine landslide drives long-lasting regime shift in slope sediment deposition

Abstract Submarine landslides and associated mass-transport deposits (MTDs) modify the physiography of continental margins and influence the evolution of submarine sediment routing systems. Previous studies highlighted the control of landslides and MTDs on subsequent sedimentary processes and deposits at spatial scales ranging from tens of centimeters to few kilometers, leaving a knowledge gap on how and for how long large-scale submarine landslides (i.e., headscarps wider than 50–100 km) may affect the stratigraphic evolution of continental margins. To fill this gap, we used three-dimensional seismic reflection data tied to an exploration well to investigate the impact of one of the largest submarine landslides discovered on Earth, the Mafia mega-slide (Mms) offshore Tanzania, on slope sediment deposition. Seismic data interpretation indicates that turbidite lobes/lobe complexes and coalescent mixed turbidite-contourite systems formed the pre-Mms stratigraphy between 38 and ca. 21 Ma (age of the Mms), whereas coarser-grained sheet turbidites and debrites accumulated after the Mms for ∼15 m.y., primarily on the topographic lows generated by the emplacement of the landslide. We interpret this drastic and long-lasting regime shift in sediment deposition to be driven by the increase in seafloor gradient and the capture and focus of feeding systems within the broad failed area. We propose that the extensive evacuation zones associated with such giant landslides can generate major “conveyor belts”, trapping land-derived material or sediments transported by along-slope processes such as bottom currents. During the progressive healing of the landslide escarpments, which may last for several million years, sand-prone facies are deposited primarily in the upper slope, filling up the accommodation space generated by the landslide, while deeper-water environments likely remain sediment starved or experience accumulation of finer-grained deposits. Our study provides new insights into the long-term response of slope depositional systems to large-scale submarine landslides, with implications for the transfer of coarse-grained sediments that can be applied to continental margins worldwide.

Advancements in polyelectrolyte membrane designs for vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB)

The polyelectrolyte membrane (PEM) is deputed as a pivotal component of vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) devices and allows long-cycling life for practical applications. However, the bottlenecks in stability and high performance PEM designs has limited the utilization of this technology to laboratory wisdom. Herein, this review focuses on the critical topic of recent advancements in PEM designs and state-of-the art methodologies to acquire alternate stable membrane structures for its application in VRFB. The importance of these advanced membrane materials underlies determining the economic feasibility, safety and desire performance outputs. Moreover, there is a drastic shift in exploring the anion exchange polyelectrolyte materials over cation exchange polyelectrolyte material with performance equivalence of Nafion®. And this has elaborated a newer prospect in polymer synthesis and functionalization. Embarking towards advanced materials, a much comprehensive literature on recent structures and various designing strategies is critically required. This literature comprehensively and systematically summarises the basics of VRFB and developments of high performance membranes. In addition, we cover different fabrication strategies, ionic designs, composite material reinforced PEMs and alternate fluorinated backbone based PEMs attributed with better performance than Nafion®. Furthermore, degradation mechanisms and oxidative stability enhancing strategies is also included. The modification of microstructures in these materials is critical to acquire desired electrochemical properties and hence influence of variable functional architecture is briefly reviewed. The objective of this review is to summarise the recent membrane designs for efficient VRFB performances.

The Plastic Bag Store (Excerpt)

The Plastic Bag Store (Excerpt)

Physical and social wellbeing of women in underpaid and overloaded jobs

The 21st century has seen a drastic transformational shift in the workforce. Women are actively participating in the workforce to have their own identity, source of income and career. There is no industry that women has stepped into, for instance automobiles, manufacturing industries, chemical industries etc. The penetration of women into white collared, pink collared and blue collared jobs are high compared to 19th and 20th century. Even though women have started to bloom in their career, they are still bounded by the traditional family responsibilities. Due to which women face many struggles in balancing their work and family. This paper discusses about the factors that hinder the survival and growth of women employed in underpaid and overloaded jobs. This empirical paper also narrates the effects of conflicts with family members, workplace conflicts, hindrance factors that make blue collared women to struggle to complete the related task leading to poor equilibrium between work and personal life.

A transcriptomic study of ‘Granny Smith’ apple fruit response to x-ray irradiation using RNA-Seq

Apple (Malus domestica) is a highly valuable fruit that is produced in significant amounts by ten countries and is exported worldwide. Phytosanitary treatment of apples is necessary to limit the spread of destructive pests. Ionizing irradiation is a highly effective non-thermal phytosanitary treatment that is gaining popularity worldwide, as it is an environmentally friendly and chemical-free technique of pest and pathogen control. Irradiation does, however, impact the physiology of the fruit and elicit radiation-induced oxidative stress. This work investigated the transcriptome responses of ‘Granny Smith’ apples subjected to 310 Gy x-ray irradiation after seven days at room temperature (RT) and after 90 days of cold storage, followed by seven days at RT. Extensive transcriptome changes were observed in response to treatment and storage. Early fruit responses included upregulation of pathways involved in cell and DNA repair mechanisms. Drastic shifts in hormone signaling pathways were also observed, as evidenced by the downregulation of auxin and ethylene pathways and the upregulation of salicylic acid and abscisic acid pathways in response to x-ray treatment. Genes encoding various reactive oxygen species scavenging and detoxifying enzymes were upregulated in response to the radiation-induced oxidative stress. The differentially expressed genes identified in this work represent the first comprehensive analysis of apple fruit responses to the commercially used dose of x-ray irradiation. These results will be useful in optimizing future irradiation treatments to minimize post-harvest physiological disorders in apples and preserve quality.

Industrial Revolution 4.0 and its impact on the evolution of the firm’s organization and management

Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 refers to the evolution of industries, particularly in the manufacturing and chain production areas. Executive managerial decisions this industry have a substantial impact on technology, data management and analytics, data security, risk management, regulatory compliance, validation, and human resource practices, among other things. Artificial Intelligence, sensors, enterprise-level solution platforms, and Machine Learning will all be used extensively in the fourth industrial revolution. In industry 4.0, the volume of external and internal Internet of Things (IoT) data is expected to expand, resulting in a drastic shift in information. The IR4.0 will result in an abundance of data flowing to quality experts in real-time, and this data will come from various sources at the same time, necessitating intelligent utilization to enable quick and effective decision-making. Managers and quality control employees must make the necessary decisions to provide a smooth transition to digital technology, which will increase the efficiency and quality of manufactured goods and services. Companies will be required to employ effective risk management strategies as part of the fourth industrial revolution in order to improve product quality and operational efficiency by allowing machine learning and Artificial Intelligence to give the finest services. As a result, the risk management team must develop plans to ensure that these tactics are implemented properly. Furthermore, quality managers must ensure that Quality 4.0, which will coincide with the fourth industrial revolution, is implemented effectively. Previous research into how Industry 4.0 affects managerial decisions has been lacking and unsatisfactory. As a result, the article tries to provide a complete assessment of the fourth industrial revolution’s management implications.

Scrutinizing Urbanization in Kathmandu Using Google Earth Engine Together with Proximity-Based Scenario Modelling

‘Urbanization’ refers to the expansion of built-up areas caused by several factors. This study focuses on the urbanization process in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Supervised classification was conducted in Google Earth Engine by using Landsat data for years 2001, 2011 and 2021. The random forest classifier with 250 trees was used for classification to generate land-cover map. A land-cover map of 2021 was used as base map in the InVEST tool for scenario modelling. An accuracy assessment with 20% of sample points was conducted with different metrics, such as overall accuracy, kappa coefficient, producer accuracy, and consumer accuracy. The results show an increment of built-up areas by around 67 km2 over 20 years in a centrifugal pattern from the core district, converting agricultural and forest land. ‘Forest’ is still dominant land-use class, with an area of 177.97 km2. Agricultural land was highly converted to urban area. The overall accuracy of this classification process ranged 0.96–1.00 for different years. The scenario modelling further elaborated an amiability of drastic shift in land-use classes to ‘built-up’, especially forest and agriculture, by around 33 km2 and 66 km2, respectively. This study recommends the consideration of ecological approaches during the planning process.

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT: A FOCUS ON SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS IN ONDO STATE, NIGERIA

Local government has served as a springboard for progress in the rural areas. Local government administrations are increasingly recognized as primary agents of rural development and as collaborators with both state and federal governments on rural development projects in progress. This study focused on the agriculture sector in Ondo State to evaluate how local government affects rural and grassroots development. The study used a straightforward survey research methodology, with questionnaire administration, focus group discussions, and interviews as the methods for gathering data. Information was gathered from both primary and secondary sources. In each of the twelve (12) selected villages, questionnaires and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) with 10–15 participants were used to gather the primary data. The FGD is to explore issues related to impact of Agricultural Development Programme on farmers in the twelve (12) selected villages, how local government agricultural extension service has been of help to farmers in the study areas and what are the infrastructures put in place by local government. The secondary data came from a variety of sources, including books, journals, government documents, unpublished materials, and libraries. Using SPSS techniques, the gathered data were quantitatively analysed. In the twelve (12) villages that were chosen for the study, the local government's agricultural development programs had little to no effect on farmers, according to the study, which found no causal link between local government and rural development and social infrastructures. The result obtained on Local Government Agricultural Development Programme on farm infrastructure, farm output, farm asset and technology dimensions showed that the programmes were not well monitored and farmer’s awareness was very poor. Within the study area, there is a very high degree of variation. A drastic shift in policy is necessary to address the issue of gap closing, while the programmes do not target the original farmers. Sustainable local government agricultural development programmes is unlikely to occur without serious attention from the government.

Global Phylogeography of Marine Synechococcus in Coastal Areas Reveals Strong Community Shifts.

Marine Synechococcus comprise a numerically and ecologically prominent phytoplankton group, playing a major role in both carbon cycling and trophic networks in all oceanic regions except in the polar oceans. Despite their high abundance in coastal areas, our knowledge of Synechococcus communities in these environments is based on only a few local studies. Here, we use the global metagenome data set of the Ocean Sampling Day (June 21st, 2014) to get a snapshot of the taxonomic composition of coastal Synechococcus communities worldwide, by recruitment on a reference database of 141 picocyanobacterial genomes, representative of the whole Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus, and Cyanobium diversity. This allowed us to unravel drastic community shifts over small to medium scale gradients of environmental factors, in particular along European coasts. The combined analysis of the phylogeography of natural populations and the thermophysiological characterization of eight strains, representative of the four major Synechococcus lineages (clades I to IV), also brought novel insights about the differential niche partitioning of clades I and IV, which most often co-dominate the Synechococcus community in cold and temperate coastal areas. Altogether, this study reveals several important characteristics and specificities of the coastal communities of Synechococcus worldwide. IMPORTANCE Synechococcus is the second most abundant phytoplanktonic organism on Earth, and its wide genetic diversity allowed it to colonize all the oceans except for polar waters, with different clades colonizing distinct oceanic niches. In recent years, the use of global metagenomics data sets has greatly improved our knowledge of "who is where" by describing the distribution of Synechococcus clades or ecotypes in the open ocean. However, little is known about the global distribution of Synechococcus ecotypes in coastal areas, where Synechococcus is often the dominant phytoplanktonic organism. Here, we leverage the global Ocean Sampling Day metagenomics data set to describe Synechococcus community composition in coastal areas worldwide, revealing striking community shifts, in particular along the coasts of Europe. As temperature appears as an important driver of the community composition, we also characterize the thermal preferenda of 8 Synechococcus strains, bringing new insights into the adaptation to temperature of the dominant Synechococcus clades.

Enhanced proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells following retrovirus mediated Achaete-scute complex-like 1 overexpression in the postnatal cerebral cortex in vivo.

The proneural transcription factor Achaete-scute complex-like 1 (Ascl1) is a major regulator of neural fate decisions, implicated both in neurogenesis and oligodendrogliogenesis. Focusing on its neurogenic activity, Ascl1 has been widely used to reprogram non-neuronal cells into induced neurons. In vitro, Ascl1 induces efficient reprogramming of proliferative astroglia from the early postnatal cerebral cortex into interneuron-like cells. Here, we examined whether Ascl1 can similarly induce neuronal reprogramming of glia undergoing proliferation in the postnatal mouse cerebral cortex in vivo. Toward this goal, we targeted cortical glia during the peak of proliferative expansion (i.e., postnatal day 5) by injecting a retrovirus encoding for Ascl1 into the mouse cerebral cortex. In contrast to the efficient reprogramming observed in vitro, in vivo Ascl1-transduced glial cells were converted into doublecortin-immunoreactive neurons only with very low efficiency. However, we noted a drastic shift in the relative number of retrovirus-transduced Sox10-positive oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) as compared to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive astrocytes. Genetic fate mapping demonstrated that this increase in OPCs was not due to Ascl1-mediated astrocyte-to-OPC fate conversion. Rather, EdU incorporation experiments revealed that Ascl1 caused a selective increase in proliferative activity of OPCs, but not astrocytes. Our data indicate that rather than inducing neuronal reprogramming of glia in the early postnatal cortex, Ascl1 is a selective enhancer of OPC proliferation.

"I feel terrible and need to exercise to find any sort of joy": What COVID stay-at-home orders tell us about exercise as vitality politics and entertainment in the United States.

During COVID-19 stay-at-home orders (SaHOs), people faced drastic shifts in their work and home lives. These shifts, in combination with the temporary closure of gyms and fitness centers, led to exercise-routine disruption. We conducted a survey to assess how people were affected by SaHOs in terms of exercise-routine change, feelings about exercise, perceived physical and mental health, as well as exercise-routine plans once SaHOs were lifted. In this article, we examine why affluent white American women exercised before and during COVID-19 SaHOs. The article focuses on the role of pleasure and entertainment as key components of exercise practices for these women. We found that changes in motivation reveal that exercise regimens are part of contemporary vitality politics, or current cultural and subjective desires and abilities to manipulate and optimize biological human processes, that include both health and entertainment. Therefore, we argue that exercise is a meaningful cultural, entertainment, and biopolitical activity.

Famine, Inequality, and Conflict

Abstract This paper employs newly collected historical data from Finland to present evidence of historically contingent, long-run consequences of a famine. We document high levels of local inequality in terms of income and land distribution until a violent uprising in 1918. These inequalities partly originated from the famine of 1866–1868, which increased the concentration of land and power to large landowners. We further show that regions with more exposure to the famine had more labor coercion by the early 1900s. These inner tensions led to violent conflict following the Russian Revolution and the Finnish independence from the Russian Empire. Using microdata on all the casualties of the 1918 Finnish Civil War, we demonstrate that the famine plausibly contributed to local insurgency participation through these factors. Although unsuccessful in replacing the government, the insurgency led to significant policy changes, including radical land redistribution and a full extension of the franchise. These national reforms led to a more drastic shift toward equality in locations more affected by the famine with greater pre-conflict inequality. Our findings highlight how historical shocks can have large and long-lasting, but not straightforward impacts.

Disease and weather induce rapid shifts in a rangeland ecosystem mediated by a keystone species (Cynomys ludovicianus).

Habitat loss and changing climate have direct impacts on native species but can also interact with disease pathogens to influence wildlife communities. In the North American Great Plains, black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) are a keystone species that create important grassland habitat for numerous species and serve as prey for predators, but lethal control driven by agricultural conflict has severely reduced their abundance. Novel disease dynamics caused by epizootic plague (Yersinia pestis) within prairie dog colonies have further reduced prairie dog abundances, in turn destabilizing associated wildlife communities. We capitalized on a natural experiment, collecting data on prairie dog distributions, vegetation structure, avian abundance, and mesocarnivore and ungulate occupancy before (2015-2017) and after (2018-2019) a plague event in northeastern Wyoming, USA. Plague decimated black-tailed prairie dog populations in what was then the largest extant colony complex, reducing colony cover in the focal area from more than 10,000 ha to less than 50 ha. We documented dramatic declines in mesocarnivore occupancy and raptor abundance post-plague, with probability of occupancy or abundance approaching zero in species that rely on prairie dogs for a high proportion of their diet (e.g., ferruginous hawk [Buteo regalis], American badger [Taxidea taxus], and swift fox [Vulpes velox]). Following the plague outbreak, abnormally high precipitation in 2018 hastened vegetation recovery from prairie dog disturbance on colonies in which constant herbivory had formerly maintained shortgrass structure necessary for certain colony-associates. As a result, we observed large shifts in avian communities on former prairie dog colonies, including near-disappearance of mountain plovers (Charadrius montanus) and increases in mid-grass associated songbirds (e.g., lark bunting [Calamospiza melanocorys]). Our research highlights how precipitation can interact with disease-induced loss of a keystone species to induce drastic and rapid shifts in wildlife communities. Although grassland taxa have co-evolved with high spatiotemporal variation, fragmentation of the remaining North American rangelands paired with higher-than-historical variability in climate and disease dynamics are likely to destabilize these systems in the future.

Is it time to clean up US tax-exempt nonprofit reporting?

PurposeUS tax-exempt nonprofits are chronically underdeveloped when it comes to reporting, communicating and comparing the value they create. This paper aims to explore an approach to address these reporting and disclosure issues, for the purpose of sustainability and impact.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the authors ask and then answer: is it time to clean up US tax-exempt nonprofit reporting? Second, the authors develop a theoretical argument, based on commensuration of impact, for a specific tax-exempt integrated report (IR), to compare the value of tax-exempt nonprofits. Third, this study offers an example of this tax-exempt IR in practice.FindingsFirst, this study evidences the need for a drastic shift in the expectations and reporting practices of US tax-exempt nonprofits. Second, this study offers an IR framework that responds to recent scholarly calls to address organizational accountability boundaries and impact assessment in the nonprofit sector. Third, this contributes to sustainability policy conversation by mapping out an approach that US tax-exempt nonprofits could deploy to speed up the implementation of sustainable solutions (Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] 17).Practical implicationsThis study contributes to sustainability conversation by closing with a discussion of why policymakers, managers and scholars should continue to push for maximum impact from US tax-exempt nonprofits. If addressing the UN SDGs is a desired outcome, then there is an immediate need for change in the way US nonprofits report what they do. This study suggests that learning from the European Union reporting practices and regulations will facilitate a move toward improved reliability, comparability and impact from US nonprofits.Social implicationsThe aim of this paper was to present a disclosure framework that provides reliable and comparable information of the value created by tax-exempt nonprofits. This principle-based framework is rooted in the IR literature and extends into the prosocial world of tax-exempt nonprofits, recognizing that is it goes farther than simply being a framework; it is a social process.Originality/valueThis paper responds to recent calls for more oversight and comparison disclosure mechanisms of US tax-exempt nonprofits, for the purpose of reducing social or environmental inequality. The framework makes an important contribution to the field of sustainability accounting, in that it promotes a principle-based approach for measuring and regulating tax-exempt nonprofits, in a way that motivates oversight and comparison of sustainability-related practices.