Dataset Information

Representations of Free-Living and Unrestrained Dogs as an Emerging Public Health Issue in Australian Newspapers.

ABSTRACT: That dogs can live and breed as free-living animals contributes to public health risks including zoonotic transmission, dog bites, and compromising people's sense of safety in public spaces. In Australia, free-living dog populations are comprised of domestic dogs, dingoes, and dog-dingo hybrids, and are described using various terms (for example, stray or community), depending on social or geographic context. Urban expansion and regional migration mean that risks associated with contact between humans and free-living dogs are increasing. Public health authorities, local governments, and community organisations have called for transdisciplinary partnerships to address dog-related health risks with a sustainable long-term approach. Values pluralism and a lack of sustained community engagement in affected areas have meant that the outcome of such efforts to date has been mixed. To identify ideas in public circulation about the impact of unrestrained and free-living dogs on human health and well-being, and understand the framework through which these animals are problematised and solutions are proposed in public discourse, we systematically examined coverage of these issues in print media. Our analyses indicate that reporting in Australian newspapers tends to frame the public health impacts of free-living dogs as problems of public order requiring direct government action to re-establish control. The public health impacts of free-living dog populations in Australia have complex causes that intersect at the nexus between human and canine behaviour, agricultural and land management practices, local bylaws, and efforts to conserve ecological systems. Placing responsibility on governments limits opportunities for greater community involvement in developing integrated One Health approaches. Better-quality evidence of the impacts of dog populations on community health and well-being, and broad community support are needed to reshape public debates on animal control, which, ultimately, will promote more effective approaches to mitigate dog-related public health risks at the human-animal-environment interface.

SUBMITTER: Degeling C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8198982 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Many cnidarians rely on their dinoflagellate partners from the family Symbiodiniaceae for their ecological success. Symbiotic species of Symbiodiniaceae have two distinct life stages: inside the host, in hospite, and outside the host, ex hospite. Several aspects of cnidarian-algal symbiosis can be understood by comparing these two life stages. Most commonly, algae in culture are used in comparative studies to represent the ex hospite life stage, however, nutrition becomes a confounding variable for this comparison because algal culture media is nutrient rich, while algae in hospite are sampled from hosts maintained in oligotrophic seawater. In contrast to cultured algae, expelled algae may be a more robust representation of the ex hospite state, as the host and expelled algae are in the same seawater environment, removing differences in culture media as a confounding variable. Here, we studied the physiology of algae released from the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana (commonly called Aiptasia), a model system for the study of coral-algal symbiosis. In Aiptasia, algae are released in distinct pellets, referred to as egesta, and we explored its potential as an experimental system to represent Symbiodiniaceae in the ex hospite state. Observation under confocal and differential interference contrast microscopy revealed that egesta contained discharged nematocysts, host tissue, and were populated by a diversity of microbes, including protists and cyanobacteria. Further experiments revealed that egesta were released at night. In addition, algae in egesta had a higher mitotic index than algae in hospite, were photosynthetically viable for at least 48 hrs after expulsion, and could competently establish symbiosis with aposymbiotic Aiptasia. We then studied the gene expression of nutrient-related genes and studied their expression using qPCR. From the genes tested, we found that algae from egesta closely mirrored gene expression profiles of algae in hospite and were dissimilar to those of cultured algae, suggesting that algae from egesta are in a nutritional environment that is similar to their in hospite counterparts. Altogether, evidence is provided that algae from Aiptasia egesta are a robust representation of Symbiodiniaceae in the ex hospite state and their use in experiments can improve our understanding of cnidarian-algal symbiosis.

Dataset Information

Representations of Free-Living and Unrestrained Dogs as an Emerging Public Health Issue in Australian Newspapers.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets