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Tara E. Stewart Merrill

Publications and source records attributed to Tara E. Stewart Merrill.

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Evidence gaps and diversity among potential win–win solutions for conservation and human infectious disease control

As sustainable development practitioners have worked to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all” and “conserve life on land and below water”, what progress has been made with win–win interventions that reduce human infectious disease burdens while advancing conservation goals? Using a systematic literature review, we identified 46 proposed solutions, which we then investigated individually using targeted literature reviews. The proposed solutions addressed diverse conservation threats and human infectious diseases, and thus, the proposed interventions varied in scale, costs, and impacts. Some potential solutions had medium-quality to high-quality evidence for previous success in achieving proposed impacts in one or both sectors. However, there were notable evidence gaps within and among solutions, highlighting opportunities for further research and adaptive implementation. Stakeholders seeking win–win interventions can explore this Review and an online database to find and tailor a relevant solution or brainstorm new solutions.

The Lancet Planetary Health

Shining a light on Laurentian Great Lakes cisco (Coregonus artedi): How ice coverage may impact embryonic development

Changes in winter conditions, such as decreased ice coverage and duration, have been observed in the Laurentian Great Lakes for more than 20 years. Such changes have been hypothesized to be linked to low Coregonus spp. survival to age-1 as most cisco ( Coregonus artedi ) populations are autumn spawners whose embryos incubate under ice throughout the winter. The quantity of light during winter is regulated by ice coverage, and light affects embryo survival and development in some teleosts. We experimentally evaluated how cisco embryos from lakes Superior and Ontario respond to three light treatments that represented day-light intensity under 0–10, 40–60, and 90–100% ice coverage. Embryonic response measures included two developmental factors (embryo survival and incubation period) and two morphological traits (length-at-hatch and yolk-sac volume). Embryo survival was highest at the medium light treatment and decreased at high and low treatments for both populations, suggesting cisco may be adapted to withstand some light exposure from inter-annual variability in ice coverage. Light intensity had no overall effect on length of incubation. Increasing light intensity decreased length-at-hatch in Lake Superior but had no effect in Lake Ontario. Yolk-sac volume was positively correlated with increasing light in Lake Superior and negatively correlated in Lake Ontario. Contrasting responses in embryo development between lakes suggests differences in populations’ response to light is flexible. Our results provide a step towards better understanding the high variability observed in coregonine recruitment and may help predict what the future of this species may look like under current climate trends.

Journal of Great Lakes Research