The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) Working Draft (www.w3.org/TR/ WCAG20/) is a new set of guidelines for making the content on websites accessible to people with disabilities. This Working Draft evolved from the current WCAG 1.0 (www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/), which was published in 1999. WCAG 2.0 is an attempt to make the guidelines more robust, measurable, and technology-independent. In addition, more supporting information is incorporated into WCAG 2.0 than was present in WCAG 1.0.KeywordsWireless Local Area NetworkingAssistive TechnologySuccess CriterionUser AgentRegulatory ComplianceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Abstract As the SARS-Cov-2 virus spreads around the world afflicting millions of people, it has undergone divergent genetic mutations. Although most of these mutations are expected to be inconsequential, some mutations in the spike protein structure have been hypothesized to affect the critical stage at which the virus invades human cells, which could affect transmission probability and disease expression. If true, then we expect an increased growth rate of reported COVID-19 cases in regions dominated by viruses with these altered proteins. We modeled early global infection dynamics based on clade assignment along with other demographic and meteorological factors previously found to be important. Clade, but not variant D614G which has been associated with increased viral load, enhanced our ability to describe early COVID-19 growth dynamics. Including clade identity in models significantly improved predictions over earlier work based only on weather and demographic variables. In particular, higher proportions of clade 19A and 19B were negatively correlated with COVID-19 growth rate, whereas higher proportions of 20A and 20C were positively correlated with growth rate. A strong interaction between the prevalence of clade 20C and relative humidity suggests that the impact of clade identity might be more important when coupled with certain weather conditions. In particular, 20C an 20A generate the highest growth rates when coupled with low humidity. Projections based on data through April 2020 suggest that, without intervention, COVID-19 has the potential to grow more quickly in regions dominated by the 20A and 20C clades, including most of South and North America.
A major challenge in climate change biology is to explain why the impacts of climate change vary around the globe. Microclimates could explain some of this variation, but climate change biologists often overlook microclimates because they are difficult to map. Here, we map microclimates in a freshwater rock pool ecosystem and evaluate how accounting for microclimates alters predictions of climate change impacts on aquatic invertebrates. We demonstrate that average maximum temperature during the growing season can differ by 9.9-11.6°C among microclimates less than a meter apart and this microclimate variation might increase by 21% in the future if deeper pools warm less than shallower pools. Accounting for this microclimate variation significantly alters predictions of climate change impacts on aquatic invertebrates. Predictions that exclude microclimates predict low future occupancy (0.08-0.32) and persistence probabilities (2%-73%) for cold-adapted taxa, and therefore predict decreases in gamma richness and a substantial shift toward warm-adapted taxa in local communities (i.e., thermophilization). However, predictions incorporating microclimates suggest cool locations will remain suitable for cold-adapted taxa in the future, no change in gamma richness, and 825% less thermophilization. Our models also suggest that cool locations will become suitable for warm-adapted taxa and will therefore accumulate biodiversity in the future, which makes cool locations essential for biodiversity conservation. Simulated protection of the 10 coolest microclimates (9% of locations on the landscape) results in a 100% chance of conserving all focal taxa in the future. In contrast, protecting the 10 currently most biodiverse locations, a commonly employed conservation strategy, results in a 3% chance of conserving all focal taxa in the future. Our study suggests that we must account for microclimates if we hope to understand the future impacts of climate change and design effective conservation strategies to limit biodiversity loss.
Species are expected to alter their ranges as climates change. Climate‐induced range expansions of predators could threaten evolutionarily naïve prey populations, leading to high mortality at the invasion front. If prey can apply existing defenses against local predators to novel predation threats induced by climate change, mortality threats will be less than expected. Here, we examine if spotted salamander larvae Ambystoma maculatum from populations that coexist with native red‐spotted newts Notophthalmus viridescens survive better when exposed to a novel predator, the marbled salamander Ambystoma opacum . We show that regional mean winter temperatures warmed 2.0°C over 116 yr in the region, and that A. opacum survival increases in ponds with higher winter temperatures. Hence as winters continue to warm, this apex predator will likely colonize ponds north of their current range limit. Next, we performed common garden experiments to determine if local adaptations to native N. viridescens and exposure to A. opacum or N. viridescens kairomones (predator chemical cues) altered A. maculatum survival in predation trials. We did not find evidence for local adaptation to N. viridescens . However, A. maculatum from high‐ N. viridescens ponds that were reared with A. opacum kairomones suffered significantly higher mortality from the native predator N. viridescens . This outcome suggests an unanticipated interaction between local adaptation and plastic responses to novel kairomones from a potentially range‐expanding predator. Current projections of biodiversity losses from climate change generally ignore the potential for eco‐evolutionary interactions between native and range‐expanding species and thus could be inaccurate.