Bacteriota and Antibiotic Resistance in Spiders.

Arthropods are reported to serve as vectors of transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to humans, animals, and the environment. The aims of our study were (i) to identify the external bacteriota of spiders inhabiting a chicken farm and slaughterhouse and (ii) to detect antimicrobial resistance of the isolates. In total, 102 spiders of 14 species were collected from a chicken farm, slaughterhouse, and buildings located in west Slovakia in 2017. Samples were diluted in peptone buffered water, and Tryptone Soya Agar (TSA), Triple Sugar Agar (TSI), Blood Agar (BA), and Anaerobic Agar (AA) were used for inoculation. A total of 28 genera and 56 microbial species were isolated from the samples. The most abundant species were Bacillus pumilus (28 isolates) and B. thuringensis (28 isolates). The least isolated species were Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (one isolate), Kocuria rhizophila (two isolates), Paenibacillus polymyxa (two isolates), and Staphylococcus equorum (two isolates). There were differences in microbial composition between the samples originating from the slaughterhouse, chicken farm, and buildings. The majority of the bacterial isolates resistant to antibiotics were isolated from the chicken farm. The isolation of potentially pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Escherichia, and Salmonella spp., which possess multiple drug resistance, is of public health concern.

Frontiers of protected areas versus forest exploitation: Assessing habitat network functionality in 16 case study regions globally.

Exploitation of natural forests forms expanding frontiers. Simultaneously, protected area frontiers aim at maintaining functional habitat networks. To assess net effects of these frontiers, we examined 16 case study areas on five continents. We (1) mapped protected area instruments, (2) assessed their effectiveness, (3) mapped policy implementation tools, and (4) effects on protected areas originating from their surroundings. Results are given as follows: (1) conservation instruments covered 3-77%, (2) effectiveness of habitat networks depended on representativeness, habitat quality, functional connectivity, resource extraction in protected areas, time for landscape restoration, "paper parks", "fortress conservation", and data access, (3) regulatory policy instruments dominated over economic and informational, (4) negative matrix effects dominated over positive ones (protective forests, buffer zones, inaccessibility), which were restricted to former USSR and Costa Rica. Despite evidence-based knowledge about conservation targets, the importance of spatial segregation of conservation and use, and traditional knowledge, the trajectories for biodiversity conservation were generally negative.