ALBERT

Description: Motivation: Mate pair protocols add to the utility of paired-end sequencing by boosting the genomic distance spanned by each pair of reads, potentially allowing larger repeats to be bridged and resolved. The Illumina Nextera Mate Pair (NMP) protocol uses a circularization-based strategy that leaves behind 38-bp adapter sequences, which must be computationally removed from the data. While ‘adapter trimming’ is a well-studied area of bioinformatics, existing tools do not fully exploit the particular properties of NMP data and discard more data than is necessary. Results: We present NxTrim, a tool that strives to discard as little sequence as possible from NMP reads. NxTrim makes full use of the sequence on both sides of the adapter site to build ‘virtual libraries’ of mate pairs, paired-end reads and single-ended reads. For bacterial data, we show that aggregating these datasets allows a single NMP library to yield an assembly whose quality compares favourably to that obtained from regular paired-end reads. Availability and implementation: The source code is available at https://github.com/sequencing/NxTrim Contact: acox@illumina.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Description: Knowledge of mammalian diversity is still surprisingly disparate, both regionally and taxonomically. Here, we present a comprehensive assessment of the conservation status and distribution of the world's mammals. Data, compiled by 1700+ experts, cover all 5487 species, including marine mammals. Global macroecological patterns are very different for land and marine species but suggest common mechanisms driving diversity and endemism across systems. Compared with land species, threat levels are higher among marine mammals, driven by different processes (accidental mortality and pollution, rather than habitat loss), and are spatially distinct (peaking in northern oceans, rather than in Southeast Asia). Marine mammals are also disproportionately poorly known. These data are made freely available to support further scientific developments and conservation action.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Schipper, Jan -- Chanson, Janice S -- Chiozza, Federica -- Cox, Neil A -- Hoffmann, Michael -- Katariya, Vineet -- Lamoreux, John -- Rodrigues, Ana S L -- Stuart, Simon N -- Temple, Helen J -- Baillie, Jonathan -- Boitani, Luigi -- Lacher, Thomas E Jr -- Mittermeier, Russell A -- Smith, Andrew T -- Absolon, Daniel -- Aguiar, John M -- Amori, Giovanni -- Bakkour, Noura -- Baldi, Ricardo -- Berridge, Richard J -- Bielby, Jon -- Black, Patricia Ann -- Blanc, J Julian -- Brooks, Thomas M -- Burton, James A -- Butynski, Thomas M -- Catullo, Gianluca -- Chapman, Roselle -- Cokeliss, Zoe -- Collen, Ben -- Conroy, Jim -- Cooke, Justin G -- da Fonseca, Gustavo A B -- Derocher, Andrew E -- Dublin, Holly T -- Duckworth, J W -- Emmons, Louise -- Emslie, Richard H -- Festa-Bianchet, Marco -- Foster, Matt -- Foster, Sabrina -- Garshelis, David L -- Gates, Cormack -- Gimenez-Dixon, Mariano -- Gonzalez, Susana -- Gonzalez-Maya, Jose Fernando -- Good, Tatjana C -- Hammerson, Geoffrey -- Hammond, Philip S -- Happold, David -- Happold, Meredith -- Hare, John -- Harris, Richard B -- Hawkins, Clare E -- Haywood, Mandy -- Heaney, Lawrence R -- Hedges, Simon -- Helgen, Kristofer M -- Hilton-Taylor, Craig -- Hussain, Syed Ainul -- Ishii, Nobuo -- Jefferson, Thomas A -- Jenkins, Richard K B -- Johnston, Charlotte H -- Keith, Mark -- Kingdon, Jonathan -- Knox, David H -- Kovacs, Kit M -- Langhammer, Penny -- Leus, Kristin -- Lewison, Rebecca -- Lichtenstein, Gabriela -- Lowry, Lloyd F -- Macavoy, Zoe -- Mace, Georgina M -- Mallon, David P -- Masi, Monica -- McKnight, Meghan W -- Medellin, Rodrigo A -- Medici, Patricia -- Mills, Gus -- Moehlman, Patricia D -- Molur, Sanjay -- Mora, Arturo -- Nowell, Kristin -- Oates, John F -- Olech, Wanda -- Oliver, William R L -- Oprea, Monik -- Patterson, Bruce D -- Perrin, William F -- Polidoro, Beth A -- Pollock, Caroline -- Powel, Abigail -- Protas, Yelizaveta -- Racey, Paul -- Ragle, Jim -- Ramani, Pavithra -- Rathbun, Galen -- Reeves, Randall R -- Reilly, Stephen B -- Reynolds, John E 3rd -- Rondinini, Carlo -- Rosell-Ambal, Ruth Grace -- Rulli, Monica -- Rylands, Anthony B -- Savini, Simona -- Schank, Cody J -- Sechrest, Wes -- Self-Sullivan, Caryn -- Shoemaker, Alan -- Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio -- De Silva, Naamal -- Smith, David E -- Srinivasulu, Chelmala -- Stephenson, Peter J -- van Strien, Nico -- Talukdar, Bibhab Kumar -- Taylor, Barbara L -- Timmins, Rob -- Tirira, Diego G -- Tognelli, Marcelo F -- Tsytsulina, Katerina -- Veiga, Liza M -- Vie, Jean-Christophe -- Williamson, Elizabeth A -- Wyatt, Sarah A -- Xie, Yan -- Young, Bruce E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2008 Oct 10;322(5899):225-30. doi: 10.1126/science.1165115.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Programme, IUCN, 28 Rue Mauverney, 1196 Gland, Switzerland. jan.schipper@iucn.org〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18845749" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The first global assessment of amphibians provides new context for the well-publicized phenomenon of amphibian declines. Amphibians are more threatened and are declining more rapidly than either birds or mammals. Although many declines are due to habitat loss and overutilization, other, unidentified processes threaten 48% of rapidly declining species and are driving species most quickly to extinction. Declines are nonrandom in terms of species' ecological preferences, geographic ranges, and taxonomic associations and are most prevalent among Neotropical montane, stream-associated species. The lack of conservation remedies for these poorly understood declines means that hundreds of amphibian species now face extinction.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Stuart, Simon N -- Chanson, Janice S -- Cox, Neil A -- Young, Bruce E -- Rodrigues, Ana S L -- Fischman, Debra L -- Waller, Robert W -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2004 Dec 3;306(5702):1783-6. Epub 2004 Oct 14.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉IUCN Species Survival Commission/Conservation International Center for Applied Biodiversity Science Biodiversity Assessment Unit, 1919 M Street N.W., Washington, DC 20036, USA. s.stuart@conservation.org〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15486254" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Using data for 25,780 species categorized on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, we present an assessment of the status of the world's vertebrates. One-fifth of species are classified as Threatened, and we show that this figure is increasing: On average, 52 species of mammals, birds, and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year. However, this overall pattern conceals the impact of conservation successes, and we show that the rate of deterioration would have been at least one-fifth again as much in the absence of these. Nonetheless, current conservation efforts remain insufficient to offset the main drivers of biodiversity loss in these groups: agricultural expansion, logging, overexploitation, and invasive alien species.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hoffmann, Michael -- Hilton-Taylor, Craig -- Angulo, Ariadne -- Bohm, Monika -- Brooks, Thomas M -- Butchart, Stuart H M -- Carpenter, Kent E -- Chanson, Janice -- Collen, Ben -- Cox, Neil A -- Darwall, William R T -- Dulvy, Nicholas K -- Harrison, Lucy R -- Katariya, Vineet -- Pollock, Caroline M -- Quader, Suhel -- Richman, Nadia I -- Rodrigues, Ana S L -- Tognelli, Marcelo F -- Vie, Jean-Christophe -- Aguiar, John M -- Allen, David J -- Allen, Gerald R -- Amori, Giovanni -- Ananjeva, Natalia B -- Andreone, Franco -- Andrew, Paul -- Aquino Ortiz, Aida Luz -- Baillie, Jonathan E M -- Baldi, Ricardo -- Bell, Ben D -- Biju, S D -- Bird, Jeremy P -- Black-Decima, Patricia -- Blanc, J Julian -- Bolanos, Federico -- Bolivar-G, Wilmar -- Burfield, Ian J -- Burton, James A -- Capper, David R -- Castro, Fernando -- Catullo, Gianluca -- Cavanagh, Rachel D -- Channing, Alan -- Chao, Ning Labbish -- Chenery, Anna M -- Chiozza, Federica -- Clausnitzer, Viola -- Collar, Nigel J -- Collett, Leah C -- Collette, Bruce B -- Cortez Fernandez, Claudia F -- Craig, Matthew T -- Crosby, Michael J -- Cumberlidge, Neil -- Cuttelod, Annabelle -- Derocher, Andrew E -- Diesmos, Arvin C -- Donaldson, John S -- Duckworth, J W -- Dutson, Guy -- Dutta, S K -- Emslie, Richard H -- Farjon, Aljos -- Fowler, Sarah -- Freyhof, Jorg -- Garshelis, David L -- Gerlach, Justin -- Gower, David J -- Grant, Tandora D -- Hammerson, Geoffrey A -- Harris, Richard B -- Heaney, Lawrence R -- Hedges, S Blair -- Hero, Jean-Marc -- Hughes, Baz -- Hussain, Syed Ainul -- Icochea M, Javier -- Inger, Robert F -- Ishii, Nobuo -- Iskandar, Djoko T -- Jenkins, Richard K B -- Kaneko, Yoshio -- Kottelat, Maurice -- Kovacs, Kit M -- Kuzmin, Sergius L -- La Marca, Enrique -- Lamoreux, John F -- Lau, Michael W N -- Lavilla, Esteban O -- Leus, Kristin -- Lewison, Rebecca L -- Lichtenstein, Gabriela -- Livingstone, Suzanne R -- Lukoschek, Vimoksalehi -- Mallon, David P -- McGowan, Philip J K -- McIvor, Anna -- Moehlman, Patricia D -- Molur, Sanjay -- Munoz Alonso, Antonio -- Musick, John A -- Nowell, Kristin -- Nussbaum, Ronald A -- Olech, Wanda -- Orlov, Nikolay L -- Papenfuss, Theodore J -- Parra-Olea, Gabriela -- Perrin, William F -- Polidoro, Beth A -- Pourkazemi, Mohammad -- Racey, Paul A -- Ragle, James S -- Ram, Mala -- Rathbun, Galen -- Reynolds, Robert P -- Rhodin, Anders G J -- Richards, Stephen J -- Rodriguez, Lily O -- Ron, Santiago R -- Rondinini, Carlo -- Rylands, Anthony B -- Sadovy de Mitcheson, Yvonne -- Sanciangco, Jonnell C -- Sanders, Kate L -- Santos-Barrera, Georgina -- Schipper, Jan -- Self-Sullivan, Caryn -- Shi, Yichuan -- Shoemaker, Alan -- Short, Frederick T -- Sillero-Zubiri, Claudio -- Silvano, Debora L -- Smith, Kevin G -- Smith, Andrew T -- Snoeks, Jos -- Stattersfield, Alison J -- Symes, Andrew J -- Taber, Andrew B -- Talukdar, Bibhab K -- Temple, Helen J -- Timmins, Rob -- Tobias, Joseph A -- Tsytsulina, Katerina -- Tweddle, Denis -- Ubeda, Carmen -- Valenti, Sarah V -- van Dijk, Peter Paul -- Veiga, Liza M -- Veloso, Alberto -- Wege, David C -- Wilkinson, Mark -- Williamson, Elizabeth A -- Xie, Feng -- Young, Bruce E -- Akcakaya, H Resit -- Bennun, Leon -- Blackburn, Tim M -- Boitani, Luigi -- Dublin, Holly T -- da Fonseca, Gustavo A B -- Gascon, Claude -- Lacher, Thomas E Jr -- Mace, Georgina M -- Mainka, Susan A -- McNeely, Jeffery A -- Mittermeier, Russell A -- Reid, Gordon McGregor -- Rodriguez, Jon Paul -- Rosenberg, Andrew A -- Samways, Michael J -- Smart, Jane -- Stein, Bruce A -- Stuart, Simon N -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Dec 10;330(6010):1503-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1194442. Epub 2010 Oct 26.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉IUCN SSC Species Survival Commission, c/o United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK. mike.hoffmann@iucn.org〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20978281" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉