Ecology

Preliminary estimation of the basic reproduction number of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China, from 2019 to 2020: A data-driven analysis in the early phase of the outbreak

1. Shi Zhao
2. Qianyin Lin
3. Jinjun Ran
4. Salihu S. Musa
5. Guangpu Yang
6. Weiming Wang
7. Yijun Lou
8. Daozhou Gao
9. Lin Yang
10. Daihai He
11. Maggie H. Wang

Reviewed by ScreenIT

SARS‐CoV‐2 surveillance in Norway rats ( Rattus norvegicus ) from Antwerp sewer system, Belgium

1. Valeria Carolina Colombo
2. Vincent Sluydts
3. Joachim Mariën
4. Bram Vanden Broecke
5. Natalie Van Houtte
6. Wannes Leirs
7. Lotte Jacobs
8. Arne Iserbyt
9. Marine Hubert
10. Leo Heyndrickx
11. Hanne Goris
12. Peter Delputte
13. Naomi De Roeck
14. Joris Elst
15. Kevin K. Ariën
16. Herwig Leirs
17. Sophie Gryseels

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Protective population behavior change in outbreaks of emerging infectious disease

1. Evans K. Lodge
2. Annakate M. Schatz
3. John M. Drake

Reviewed by ScreenIT

Physiology and ecology combine to determine host and vector importance for Ross River virus

1. Morgan P Kain
2. Eloise B Skinner
3. Andrew F van den Hurk
4. Hamish McCallum
5. Erin A Mordecai

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  The manuscript outlines an epidemiological framework to investigate the relative contribution of different hosts and vectors to the initial spread of a zoonotic disease. It focuses on Ross River virus in Brisbane and collates previously published estimates of abundance, biometrics and viral profiles to highlight the most epidemiologically important routes of transmission.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #2 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Environmental drivers of disease depend on host community context

1. Fletcher W. Halliday
2. Mikko Jalo
3. Anna-Liisa Laine

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This paper provides a framework for disentangling the direct vs. indirect effects of environment on disease, which should be of broad interest across domains of ecology, epidemiology and plant biology. The authors validate this framework with a well-designed field study of plant leaf disease across a large elevational gradient. Overall, the data analyses are appropriate, but a few aspects of interpretations could be improved.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #1 agreed to share their name with the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Sex and origin-specific inbreeding effects on flower attractiveness to specialised pollinators

1. Karin Schrieber
2. Sarah Catherine Paul
3. Levke Valena Höche
4. Andrea Cecilia Salas
5. Rabi Didszun
6. Jakob Mößnang
7. Caroline Müller
8. Alexandra Erfmeier
9. Elisabeth Johanna Eilers

• Curated by eLife

  Evaluation Summary:

  This research is relevant for ecologist and evolutionary biologist in the specific fields of plant conservation, chemical ecology, pollination biology and plant sex evolution. The authors test the interesting hypothesis that traits important for plant-insect interactions are directly affected by inbreeding, which in turn may directly impact the plant-insect interaction. The authors test this prediction in a series of experiments on the plant Silene latifolia, and the results largely support the hypothesis that inbreeding reduces plant attractiveness. In short, the results show that there are indeed strong negative effects of inbreeding on multiple plant/floral traits, but that the effects of these traits do not necessarily translate directly into reduced pollinator visitation rates. The data are of high quality, the sampling of populations was markedly geographically broad and balanced, and the experiments were well implemented, leading to a certain robustness of the results and conclusions.

  (This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. The reviewers remained anonymous to the authors.)

Reviewed by eLife

Inversion of pheromone preference optimizes foraging in C. elegans

1. Martina Dal Bello
2. Alfonso Pérez-Escudero
3. Frank C Schroeder
4. Jeff Gore

Reviewed by eLife

Relative demographic susceptibility does not explain the extinction chronology of Sahul’s megafauna

1. Corey JA Bradshaw
2. Christopher N Johnson
3. John Llewelyn
4. Vera Weisbecker
5. Giovanni Strona
6. Frédérik Saltré

Reviewed by eLife

Global gradients in intertidal species richness and functional groups

1. Jakob Thyrring
2. Lloyd S Peck

Reviewed by eLife

Novel enzyme for dimethyl sulfide-releasing in bacteria reveals a missing route in the marine sulfur cycle

1. Chun-Yang Li
2. Xiu-Juan Wang
3. Xiu-Lan Chen
4. Qi Sheng
5. Shan Zhang
6. Peng Wang
7. Mussa Quareshy
8. Branko Rihtman
9. Xuan Shao
10. Chao Gao
11. Fuchuan Li
12. Shengying Li
13. Yin Chen
14. Yu-Zhong Zhang

Reviewed by eLife