The study, led by Josie F. Chandler of James Cook University and colleagues, quantified daily feeding rates for 565 individual starfish across five regions of the central, northern and far northern Great Barrier Reef, from Townsville and Cairns to Lizard, Princess Charlotte Bay and Cape Grenville. Between March 2023 and March 2024, the team conducted 208 Scooter-Assisted Large Area Diver-based surveys, a novel method in which divers use underwater scooters to cover large reef areas efficiently. In total, more than 2,600 fresh feeding scars were measured, each attributed with confidence to a single starfish feeding in isolation.

The feeding mechanism of the crown-of-thorns starfish is central to understanding its destructive potential. Like other sea stars, it can evert its stomach through its mouth and spread it over the surface of a coral colony, digesting living tissue externally. When fully extended, the stomach covers a planar area roughly equivalent to the starfish’s oral disc, but it can drape over complex three-dimensional surfaces such as branching corals. This means the actual amount of tissue consumed increases with the structural complexity of the prey, which helps explain the starfish’s well-documented preference for tabular and corymbose Acropora corals, the very corals most vulnerable to bleaching and storm damage.

To translate simple field measurements into ecologically meaningful quantities, the researchers used genus-specific calibration curves developed for 15 distinct coral morphotaxa. Each fresh feeding scar, identifiable by sloughing tissue, mucous coverage or bare white skeleton not yet colonised by turf algae, was measured for maximum diameter with a flexible tape. These linear dimensions were converted into two-dimensional planar area and three-dimensional tissue surface area. The number of days over which scars were assumed to accumulate was standardised according to scar persistence: five days during summer surveys, when water temperatures ranged from 27 to 31 degrees Celsius, and seven days during winter surveys, when temperatures ranged from 24 to 26 degrees Celsius.

Analysing the data required a combination of machine learning and mixed-effects statistics. Boosted Regression Tree algorithms were first used to identify which of ten candidate predictors, including body size, population density, coral cover, Acropora cover, season, month, water temperature, latitude, region and reef, had the strongest influence on feeding rates. Generalized linear mixed effects models were then fitted for three separate metrics: the number of coral colonies consumed, the combined planar area of all feeding scars, and the total three-dimensional tissue surface area consumed. The final models included starfish body size category, total coral cover category and population density, with site as a random effect.

The results were unambiguous. Body size was the strongest and most consistent predictor of daily feeding across all three metrics, with rates increasing markedly from the smallest size class, up to 15 centimetres, to the largest, above 40 centimetres. The predicted daily planar area consumed across all starfish averaged 164.04 square centimetres, with individual values ranging from just 1.58 to a remarkable 2,135.29 square centimetres per day. When expressed as three-dimensional tissue surface area, the mean rose to 900.46 square centimetres per day, with extremes approaching 7,421 square centimetres. Perhaps most striking, the largest starfish at sites with more than 50 percent coral cover consumed an average of 221.99 square centimetres of planar coral area per day, more than ten times the 18.86 square centimetres consumed by smaller individuals at sites with less than 15 percent coral cover.

Just as revealing was what did not matter. Population density, season, water temperature and latitude showed no significant effect on daily feeding rates, challenging long-standing assumptions in outbreak models that treat every starfish as an equal unit of destruction. Seasonal variation in feeding has been proposed in earlier work, potentially driven by temperature-mediated metabolic demand or seasonal gametogenesis, but this study’s design, spanning eight degrees of latitude and allowing temperature effects to be examined in isolation from reproductive cycles, found no such link. The authors caution that the observed temperature range was relatively narrow at two to three degrees Celsius, and laboratory studies have shown starfish metabolism does rise with temperature, suggesting ocean warming could still increase feeding pressure under future climate scenarios.

The influence of coral cover operated in an unexpected way. While the area of coral consumed increased significantly at high-cover sites, the number of colonies preyed upon did not. This indicates that starfish on coral-rich reefs are not attacking more colonies, but rather consuming larger bites from bigger, structurally complex colonies. Because branching corals such as Acropora pack far more tissue surface area into a given footprint than massive corals do, high-cover reefs effectively supercharge individual feeding rates. In this study, 78 percent of the variation in total coral cover was explained by Acropora cover alone. The findings align with previous research showing that when Acropora abundance exceeds 30 percent, crown-of-thorns starfish exhibit strong site fidelity and homing behaviour, whereas on prey-poor reefs they roam widely in search of food.

The absence of a density effect is also scientifically significant. Density-dependent feeding is well documented in other echinoderms, particularly sea urchins, but the starfish densities observed here, ranging from 1.69 to 73.68 individuals per hectare, are moderate compared to catastrophic outbreaks exceeding 1,000 starfish per hectare recorded elsewhere. The authors suggest that behavioural shifts tied to crowding may only emerge at extreme densities, or that per-capita feeding may simply be insensitive to density and instead governed by prey availability. Measuring individual feeding rates also becomes inherently difficult at very high densities, when feeding scars cannot reliably be matched to specific individuals.

Beyond its ecological insights, the study delivers a practical tool for reef managers. Because the size categories used match those routinely recorded by Great Barrier Reef culling teams, and the coral cover categories align with protocols of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science Long-Term Monitoring Programme, the predicted feeding rates can be applied immediately to existing survey datasets. Managers can combine local population size-structure with coral cover data to estimate cumulative feeding pressure in real time, forecast coral loss as either benthic area or tissue surface area, and reassess intervention thresholds. This replaces the older, cruder approach of assuming uniform per-capita feeding, which the new data show can badly misestimate the true impact of an outbreak.

The findings also carry a deeper warning about the future of the reef. If Acropora-dominated environments are essential for sustaining high starfish densities and rapid individual feeding, widespread coral loss from bleaching could eventually impose natural constraints on outbreaks, as starving populations in prey-depleted environments may collapse. Conversely, any recovery of complex coral habitats could amplify the destructive capacity of starfish that remain. The study’s context-dependent, size-structured feeding estimates offer a substantially more accurate foundation for modelling coral mortality, prioritising culling effort and, ultimately, buying time for one of the world’s most iconic ecosystems as it faces the compounding pressures of predation and climate change.

The study, conducted within the framework of the larger Swedish randomized controlled CGA Swed trial, set out to explore how frail older people managed everyday life in quarantine during the first year of the pandemic. Frailty, in the clinical sense, refers to a state of reduced bodily function, increased vulnerability, and diminished ability to handle stressors, often assessed through criteria such as general weakness, reduced endurance, weight loss, low physical activity, and slow walking speed. Because frailty markedly increases after the age of 80 and is associated with reduced quality of life, impaired cognition, and heightened risk of depression and pain, the researchers reasoned that this group would experience pandemic restrictions differently from healthier older adults. Yet, until now, in-depth knowledge about the consequences for frail older people specifically remained scarce, leaving a gap in both gerontology and occupational therapy research.

Twenty participants, aged 78 to 100 years and including 11 women and 9 men, were recruited through strategic sampling designed to capture heterogeneity in age, illness, functional ability, and dependence in activities of daily living. Almost all depended on home-help services, two lived in nursing homes, and seven rated their health as good while the rest described it as fair or poor. Because meeting in person posed an unacceptable infection risk, the researchers conducted semi-structured telephone interviews between October 2020 and February 2021, lasting from 11 to 33 minutes with a median of 23 minutes. Notably, recruitment and data collection never occurred digitally, an advantage the researchers highlight given that digital exclusion is itself a barrier for this population. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the qualitative content analysis method described by Graneheim and Lundman, in which meaning units are coded, grouped into categories, and distilled into themes, ultimately yielding one overarching theme and four subthemes.

That overarching theme, everyday life in double exposure, captures the central insight of the study: even before the pandemic, limitations already existed across multiple domains of these participants’ lives as consequences of ageing and illness. Dependence on elder care services could negatively affect control over daily routines, and most participants had already adapted their leisure activities to a reduced capacity. The loss of friends to old age had narrowed social interactions, and reliance on relatives for support had heightened dependence. The restrictions then compounded every one of these pre-existing limitations. Rather than confronting the pandemic from a baseline of healthy autonomy, these older people faced a crisis that amplified vulnerabilities they were already struggling to manage, and their diminished capacity to generate new coping strategies made the disruption especially destabilizing.

The first subtheme, powerlessness under the restrictions, describes the tension between adhering to public health guidance and struggling with its suffocating impact. Participants spoke of the pandemic period as a lost year, a time of living unnaturally under a new set of rules about how to exist. The constraints heightened their awareness of life’s finite nature and intensified the desire to engage in meaningful occupations, while simultaneously undermining their sense of autonomy and occupational identity. For those in care homes, limitations were particularly severe, with periods when residents could not move through common areas or meet relatives, and when fellow residents died from the virus. One participant described a common room where only three grieving residents remained after many others had died at the same time. Relatives’ opinions also shaped what activities participants felt permitted to pursue, an external control that reinforced feelings of limited agency and left some waiting for something to change without knowing how to influence their situation.

To manage this powerlessness, participants adopted a strategy the researchers termed acceptance and trust in the restrictions. Accepting the necessity and effectiveness of the measures became a way to cope with double exposure, allowing participants to focus on external factors such as vaccination prospects or changing seasons. Strict adherence, including avoiding all social contact, provided a sense of security for some, while others balanced precautions such as masks, sanitizers, and physical distance with continued essential activities. Healthcare was still sought when needed, and routine visits continued. Yet the study uncovered a novel and troubling finding: inconsistent adherence to safety measures among elder care staff, such as variable use of protective equipment, undermined participants’ sense of security and even led some to cancel support services they clearly needed, despite having extensive care needs that limited that option. Over time, pandemic behaviors like distancing and abstaining from handshakes became routine, but adherence occasionally relaxed, with some participants prioritizing physical contact with close relatives over fear of infection, weighing emotional needs against physical risk.

The third subtheme, limitations in everyday life beyond control, documents how the pandemic profoundly restricted activities and deepened boredom. The inability to meet relatives, socialize with friends, or leave the home for everyday societal activities such as shopping, using public transport, or simply sitting on a bench was experienced as particularly restrictive. Shifting social and religious activities to digital platforms was often impossible due to limited technological skills or resources, meaning that lost participation also meant lost routines, health benefits, and intellectual engagement. Dependence on family members introduced further constraints, as feelings of being a burden inhibited participants from expressing their own needs. Practical frictions multiplied; one participant described the difficulty of coordinating a hairdresser visit with home care schedules that had themselves become unpredictable because of pandemic staffing uncertainties. One participant, asked what she did when spontaneous meetings were no longer possible, responded through tears that she simply lay down in bed and fell asleep, calling the situation awful.

Against these losses, the final subtheme, striving for meaningfulness in everyday life, reveals remarkable resilience. Participants adapted leisure activities to fit within restrictions, meeting friends outdoors when weather permitted, maintaining phone contact, and turning to solitary hobbies such as reading, puzzles, radio, crosswords, and television. Some expanded their use of smartphones and tablets to access social media or games, while others relied on relatives for basic digital tasks, but for many, technology remained inaccessible due to lack of access or competence. Crucially, even participants with digital tools did not perceive online interaction as a true replacement for in-person contact, consistent with prior research on occupational disruption. In care settings, the social interaction provided by care staff grew increasingly important, and some participants supported peers facing greater challenges, demonstrating solidarity, such as one resident who gave fruit to and talked with two women who died the very same night.

The authors conclude that frail older people may have limited capability to adapt to new circumstances, make active decisions to influence their situation, and proactively manage their health, which underscores the central role of occupational therapy in mitigating the impact of disrupted everyday life. Occupational therapists, the study argues, are uniquely positioned to identify how frailty constrains activity performance and participation, to co-create modified routines, to enable safe engagement in daily activities, to strengthen social participation through both digital and non-digital means, and to work with families and care staff to stabilize expectations around daily roles. Addressing digital exclusion, ensuring stable and predictable care environments, and strengthening continuity in primary care through designated contact persons emerge as concrete priorities. Perhaps most significantly, the mechanisms identified here, including reduced activity opportunities, disrupted roles, and weakened belonging, operate not only during pandemics but also in ordinary circumstances where illness, mobility limitations, or restricted social networks chronically isolate frail older people. The study’s findings thus serve as both a record of a lost year and a blueprint for sustaining leisure, connection, and wellbeing in future disruptive events.

Subject of Research: Managing Everyday Life in Double Exposure: Frail Older People’s Experiences During a Pandemic

Article Title: Managing Everyday Life in Double Exposure: Frail Older People’s Experiences During a Pandemic

Article References: Sjöberg, K., Dahlin-Ivanoff, S., Wilhelmson, K., & Andersson Hammar, I. (2026). Managing Everyday Life in Double Exposure: Frail Older People’s Experiences During a Pandemic. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 33(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44474-026-00001-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s44474-026-00001-7

Keywords: Managing, Everyday, Life, Double, Exposure, Frail, Older, People, Experiences, During, Pandemic, scientific research

The stakes are high. Olive cultivation is deeply embedded in the economies, landscapes and food systems of Mediterranean countries, yet orchards are increasingly exposed to drought, heatwaves, intense rainfall and shifts in the timing of seasonal water. Traditional groves, especially rainfed systems, depend on a limited reservoir of soil moisture. At the same time, intense storms can send water racing downslope, carrying away fertile soil before it can infiltrate. This creates a difficult balancing act: farmers need management practices that keep rainfall in the root zone, limit erosion and runoff, and preserve oil production without increasing competition for water between trees and vegetation growing beneath them.

To investigate that trade-off, Ignacio J. Lorite of the Andalusian Institute for Agricultural Research and Training and colleagues developed AdaptaOlive-WABOL, an olive-crop simulation model designed to connect soil processes with tree productivity. The model estimates the orchard water balance—the movement of rainfall into runoff, evaporation, transpiration, soil storage and drainage—and uses those calculations to project olive oil yield under contrasting climates and management systems. In practical terms, the model represents the orchard as a dynamic water budget. Rainfall adds water, while runoff removes water from the field before it reaches the soil; evaporation and plant transpiration return water to the atmosphere; and the remaining moisture becomes available to olive roots, subject to soil water-holding capacity and the timing of demand.

The researchers used an ensemble of climate projections from the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project, or ISIMIP, to explore how strategies might behave across different climatic conditions. The analysis included a relatively wet regime receiving about 600 millimetres of annual precipitation and a drier regime receiving about 400 millimetres. The study compared traditional tillage with alternatives that included cover crops and other forms of ground management. A cover crop can protect soil from raindrop impact, slow the movement of water across sloping land and improve the physical structure of the soil. But it is also a living competitor: before it is terminated, its roots and leaves draw water from the same soil reservoir that sustains the olive trees.

That competition explains why the same intervention produced opposite hydrological outcomes. Under the wetter conditions, a cover crop dominated by red brome, Bromus rubens, reduced runoff by approximately 28 per cent compared with traditional tillage. When rainfall is relatively abundant, vegetation can function as a protective layer. Its stems and residues interrupt overland flow, while roots and organic matter can promote infiltration, allowing more water to enter the soil rather than escaping from the orchard surface. Under the drier conditions, however, the cover crop increased runoff by about 5 per cent compared with tillage. The model indicates that this result is consistent with a cover crop consuming soil moisture and potentially leaving the ground less able to absorb later rainfall, particularly when the soil is already water-limited.

The yield cost of the cover crop was more consistent than its effect on runoff. Olive oil production declined by roughly 4 per cent under the wetter climate and by about 14 per cent under the drier one. The disparity is important because a small hydrological benefit may not compensate for a large production loss in a rainfed orchard. In a water-limited system, every litre taken up by temporary vegetation is a litre unavailable to the olive trees unless it is returned to the soil at the right time. The timing of cover-crop termination therefore matters as much as the decision to plant one. The study’s broader management framework includes termination by herbicide, livestock grazing, tillage or brush cutting, as well as inert ground cover and no-tillage approaches, each of which changes how much living vegetation, residue and exposed soil remain through the season.

The researchers do not present the results as a rejection of cover crops. Rather, they show why recommendations based on a single average climate can be misleading. A practice that protects soil during a year of substantial rainfall may be poorly suited to an orchard facing a sequence of dry winters and hotter spring conditions. The same region can contain steep and flat fields, shallow and deep soils, and orchards with very different water-holding capacities. Rainfall can also vary sharply from year to year, with long dry intervals punctuated by storms intense enough to overwhelm the soil surface. By linking climate projections with soil-management variables, AdaptaOlive-WABOL offers a way to examine these interactions quantitatively instead of assuming that an adaptation measure will behave consistently everywhere.

The model also captures a central problem in agricultural adaptation: improving one environmental service can impose a cost elsewhere. Reducing runoff can conserve soil and limit the export of nutrients and sediment, but increasing ground vegetation may reduce the water available for fruit development and oil accumulation. Tillage can leave soil more exposed to erosion, yet in some dry settings it may reduce competition from weeds or cover crops and preserve moisture for trees. No-tillage, residues and inert covers may offer different compromises, but their success will depend on surface conditions, rainfall intensity, soil texture and orchard design. The study therefore points toward management that is spatially and temporally targeted—using protective cover when runoff risk is high, while avoiding excessive water consumption during the most critical periods of olive growth.

Because the study is based on simulation rather than a single long-term field experiment, its results are best understood as evidence for testing strategies, not as a universal prescription. Simulation models simplify complex orchards, and their reliability depends on the quality of the climate inputs, soil parameters, crop responses and management assumptions. The researchers made the model available for evaluating water balance and yield under diverse climatic conditions, while the simulation outputs can be requested from the corresponding author. Even with those qualifications, the sharp contrast between the 28 per cent reduction in runoff under wetter conditions and the 5 per cent increase under drier conditions delivers a powerful message for a region confronting climate uncertainty. Mediterranean olive farming may become more resilient not through one ideal soil practice, but through flexible decisions that match ground cover and water use to local rainfall regimes, soil storage and the coming season’s risks.

Antibiotic resistance in S. maltophilia has prompted an urgent need to reassess existing therapeutics and explore novel antimicrobial agents. Among the frontline antibiotics, levofloxacin (LVFX), a fluoroquinolone, has traditionally been among the most effective agents. However, burgeoning clinical reports underscore a worrisome rise in LVFX-resistant strains. This resistance emergence undermines the utility of levofloxacin, necessitating alternative solutions capable of bypassing or overcoming established resistance mechanisms.

Cefiderocol (CFDC), a newer siderophore cephalosporin antibiotic, has attracted attention due to its unique mechanism of bacterial entry and potent activity against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. By exploiting bacterial iron transport systems, CFDC achieves enhanced penetration into bacterial cells, rendering it a promising candidate against stubborn infections like those caused by S. maltophilia. Nevertheless, its efficacy specifically in the context of hemorrhagic pneumonia induced by this pathogen had not been thoroughly evaluated prior to recent investigations.

Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University, spearheaded by Dr. Waki Imoto, embarked on a detailed experimental study to elucidate and compare the therapeutic potential of CFDC and LVFX against S. maltophilia-induced hemorrhagic pneumonia. Utilizing a rigorously controlled mouse model, which closely simulates severe pulmonary infection, the study administered these agents to cohorts infected with lethal S. maltophilia strains. The experimental design aimed to quantify survival outcomes, bacterial load reductions, and histopathological changes to evaluate the relative efficacies of the two antibiotics.

The mouse model revealed compelling findings: both LVFX and CFDC administration led to statistically significant improvements in survival compared to untreated controls, indicative of their capacity to combat severe infection. Quantitative bacterial cultures from heart and lung tissues demonstrated marked reductions in bacterial burdens post-treatment, underscoring the antimicrobial potency in vivo. These results validate the clinical potential of CFDC as an alternative to LVFX, especially in light of increasing LVFX resistance.

Microscopic examination of lung tissues furnished further insights. Hemorrhagic damage, a hallmark of this pneumonic infection, was substantially ameliorated in both antibiotic-treated groups. However, subtle yet critical differences emerged: LVFX-treated mice exhibited minimal pulmonary hemorrhage, while CFDC-treated cohorts displayed slight residual hemorrhagic foci. This observation suggests a differential pharmacodynamic profile between the drugs, possibly linked to their tissue distribution, bacterial killing kinetics, or immune-modulatory effects.

Dr. Imoto posits that LVFX’s superior reduction in hemorrhagic lung damage may derive from its pharmacokinetic properties, including more effective penetration and accumulation in pulmonary tissues. This targeted delivery may facilitate prompt bacterial clearance and mitigate inflammatory vascular injury, which drives hemorrhagic manifestations. Conversely, while CFDC’s innovative siderophore-mediated uptake enhances bacterial access, its lung tissue penetration dynamics may differ, accounting for the observed variance in hemorrhage persistence.

The broader implications of this study carry significant clinical weight. With LVFX resistance trends alarmingly on the rise, reliance solely on fluoroquinolones is increasingly precarious. CFDC represents a viable alternative or adjunct therapy, capable of expanding the armamentarium against resistant S. maltophilia infections. Clinicians should, therefore, consider patient-specific factors, resistance profiles, and drug pharmacology to optimize treatment regimens, potentially integrating CFDC in cases where LVFX resistance compromises efficacy.

This investigation marks a critical advance in antimicrobial research, providing foundational evidence to guide therapeutic decision-making against challenging Gram-negative pulmonary infections. The dual demonstration of efficacy in survival enhancement and lung tissue protection underscores the translational relevance of these findings to human medicine. Moreover, the study exemplifies the power of experimental animal models to dissect nuanced drug-pathogen-host interactions and predict clinical outcomes.

Future research trajectories may focus on elucidating the molecular determinants of CFDC and LVFX distribution within lung microenvironments, immune response modulation during treatment, and resistance evolution under selective antibiotic pressures. Additionally, clinical trials are imperative to validate these preclinical results, refine dosing strategies, and evaluate potential synergistic combinations that could further suppress bacterial persistence and prevent resistance emergence.

The fight against multidrug-resistant infections is an evolving frontier. Discovering and optimizing effective drugs like CFDC while understanding the limitations and strengths of established agents such as LVFX is critical. Through meticulous scientific inquiry and translational research, the prospects for managing lethal infections by pathogens like S. maltophilia can be significantly improved, offering renewed hope for vulnerable patient populations worldwide.

As antimicrobial resistance continues to erode the efficacy of traditional antibiotics, the promising results from Osaka Metropolitan University with CFDC signify a pivotal step forward. By harnessing novel mechanisms of action and leveraging cutting-edge research techniques, the medical community can anticipate more robust and durable therapeutic options. This research not only highlights immediate clinical potentials but also inspires continued innovation in the quest to overcome multidrug resistance in dangerous bacterial pathogens.

Subject of Research: Animals

Article Title: Efficacy of cefiderocol and levofloxacin against Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in a hemorrhagic pneumonia mouse model

News Publication Date: 30-Jan-2026

Web References: DOI link

Image Credits: Osaka Metropolitan University

Keywords: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, multidrug resistance, hemorrhagic pneumonia, levofloxacin, cefiderocol, antimicrobial therapy, bacterial infection, fluoroquinolone resistance, siderophore cephalosporin, lung infection, experimental study, antibiotic efficacy