Publications by authors named "Matthew Ayres"

Arthropods are active during the winter in temperate regions. Many use the seasonal snowpack as a buffer against harsh ambient conditions and are active in a refugium known as the subnivium. While the use of the subnivium by arthropods is well established, far less is known about subnivium community composition, abundance, biomass, and diversity and how these characteristics compare with the community in the summer.

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The grapevine trunk disease, Eutypa dieback (ED), causes significant vine decline and yield reduction. For many years, the fungus Eutypa lata was considered the main pathogen causing ED of grapevines in Australia. Recent studies showed other Diatrypaceous fungi were also associated with vines exhibiting dieback symptoms but there is limited information on how these fungal pathogens spread in vineyards.

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Systemic sclerosis is a rare connective tissue disease; and interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There are no clinical, radiologic features, nor biomarkers that identify the specific time when patients are at risk for progression at which the benefits from treatment outweigh the risks. Our study aimed to identify blood protein biomarkers associated with progression of interstitial lung disease in patients with SSc-ILD using an unbiased, high-throughput approach.

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  • - The study aimed to differentiate between descending thoracic aortic aneurysms (DTAA) and descending type B dissections to improve detection and risk prediction, as these conditions often go unnoticed until serious complications arise.
  • - Researchers used a proteomic dataset from 75 patients with type B dissection and 62 with DTAA, applying both traditional statistical methods and machine learning to identify important proteins associated with each condition.
  • - Findings revealed that only hemopexin (HPX) significantly differed between the two conditions, and machine learning effectively classified cases, with pathways related to immune response and blood coagulation being significantly enriched in DTAA patients compared to type B dissections.
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  • Researchers developed a new sample preparation technique for mass spectrometry (MS) that simplifies the process and improves the analysis of heart tissue proteins.
  • The adaptation involves using high-field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) to streamline sample handling and reduce instrument processing time.
  • This new method yields unique protein identification and quantification while achieving results comparable to the previous IN-Sequence (IN-Seq) method but in a shorter time frame.
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  • Some introduced species can cause significant harm, and understanding which ones pose the greatest risk allows for better prevention and mitigation efforts in ecosystems.
  • Research on the evolutionary history of herbivorous insects and their host plants helps predict potential impacts, particularly using divergence times of these relationships to assess risk.
  • The study tested different phylogenetic datasets and found that, despite variations, predictions regarding the impact of introduced conifer-feeding insects remained consistent, which aids in prioritizing biosecurity measures.
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The establishment of laboratory isolates of the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the causal agent of the pine wilt disease, has been crucial to research on this important forest pathogen. Here we describe a simple, low-cost, and easy way to obtain samples of wild populations of B. xylophilus by culturing dauers extracted directly from the insect vector.

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Conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) promotes tree species diversity by reducing recruitment near conspecific adults due to biotic feedbacks from herbivores, pathogens, or competitors. While this process is well-described in tropical forests, tests of temperate tree species range from strong positive to strong negative density dependence. To explain this, several studies have suggested that tree species traits may help predict the strength and direction of density dependence: for example, ectomycorrhizal-associated tree species typically exhibit either positive or weaker negative conspecific density dependence.

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Damage from infestations of Lymantria dispar L. in oak-dominated stands and southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann) in pine-dominated stands have far exceeded impacts of other disturbances in forests of the mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain over the last two decades. We used forest census data collected in undisturbed and insect-impacted stands combined with eddy covariance measurements made pre- and post-disturbance in oak-, mixed and pine-dominated stands to quantify how these infestations altered forest composition, structure and carbon dynamics in the Pinelands National Reserve of southern New Jersey.

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The interface between field biology and technology is energizing the collection of vast quantities of environmental data. Passive acoustic monitoring, the use of unattended recording devices to capture environmental sound, is an example where technological advances have facilitated an influx of data that routinely exceeds the capacity for analysis. Computational advances, particularly the integration of machine learning approaches, will support data extraction efforts.

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One promising approach to mitigate the negative impacts of insect pests in forests is to adapt forestry practices to create ecosystems that are more resistant and resilient to biotic disturbances. At the stand scale, local stand management practices often cause idiosyncratic effects on forest pests depending on the environmental context and the focal pest species. However, increasing tree diversity appears to be a general strategy for reducing pest damage across several forest types.

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Premise: Plant performance and functional traits vary considerably within species, particularly in response to environmental variation. Plant responses may reflect life-history trade-offs, such as between resource acquisition and resource conservation. Larger seeds may buffer young plants from the negative effects of environmental variation, such as limitations in nutrients or water.

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  • - SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19, a pandemic that has significantly affected society.
  • - Proteomic studies have identified key proteins linked to the disease that aid in short- and long-term diagnosis and prognosis.
  • - There is a diverse immune response seen in COVID-19 patients, which raises concerns about a higher risk of developing autoimmune conditions.
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  • Density dependence in populations, particularly for species like mosquitoes, is difficult to quantify due to factors like habitat quality and density-related competition.
  • In a study of the Arctic mosquito Aedes nigripes, researchers used lab experiments, field observations, and models to analyze population dynamics and found different patterns of density dependence in controlled and natural settings.
  • The lab results indicated strong density dependence with specific recruitment rates, while field data suggested other factors, like predation and resource availability, played a significant role in shaping actual population densities.
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Rapid warming is predicted to increase insect herbivory across the tundra biome, yet how this will impact the community and ecosystem dynamics remains poorly understood. Increasing background invertebrate herbivory could impede Arctic greening, by serving as a top-down control on tundra vegetation. Many tundra ecosystems are also susceptible to severe insect herbivory outbreaks which can have lasting effects on vegetation communities.

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  • Fine roots and mycorrhizal fungi can either speed up or slow down leaf litter decomposition by influencing other decomposers through nutrient access and competition.
  • In a study conducted in a northern hardwood forest in New Hampshire, researchers reduced fine roots and mycorrhizal fungi to observe their effects on leaf litter decay.
  • The results showed that litter decomposed faster in areas with fine roots and mycorrhizal hyphae, indicating that both arbuscular mycorrhizal and ectomycorrhizal roots enhance decomposition, depending on the nature of their interactions with other fungi.
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The increasing prevalence of the grapevine trunk diseases Eutypa and Botryosphaeria dieback has been attributed, in part, to abiotic stresses imposed on vineyards as production intensifies worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of water deficit irrigation practices on the infection of pruning wounds by and and the subsequent rate of colonization. Two vineyard trials were conducted over two consecutive seasons in South Australia, one in the Riverland with 'Cabernet Sauvignon' with four irrigation treatments (100, 50, 25, and 12.

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The prevalence of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases is dramatically increasing across the United States. While the rapid rise in Lyme disease is clear, the causes of it are not. Modeling Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), the primary Lyme disease vector in the eastern United States, presents an opportunity to disentangle the drivers of increasing Lyme disease, including climate, land cover, and host populations.

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  • The study focuses on the population dynamics of Aedes nigripes mosquitoes in western Greenland, analyzing how food resources (aquatic biofilms) and predators (diving beetles) influence these dynamics.
  • Researchers tracked mosquito and predator populations across eight ponds in spring 2018, finding that resource quality and competition among mosquitoes played a more significant role in population performance than predation pressure from beetles.
  • Despite initial high mosquito densities leading to increased mortality, better resource quality did not result in corresponding increases in adult mosquito fitness, highlighting the impact of resource availability on mosquito populations.
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  • - The text discusses the ecological impacts of wildland fires, particularly focusing on how they affect tree mortality, which is important because trees support various biological services.
  • - Researchers created the Fire and Tree Mortality (FTM) database that includes detailed records from over 164,000 individual trees affected by prescribed fires and wildfires in the U.S. between 1981 and 2016.
  • - This database serves as a tool for assessing fire mortality models, improving pre- and post-fire decision-making, and identifying areas where further research is needed regarding fire-induced tree death.
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  • - The study focuses on understanding why non-native herbivorous insects have varying impacts on native conifer species, analyzing over 25 factors related to both insect and host traits, as well as their evolutionary history.
  • - Key findings reveal that factors like the evolutionary divergence between the native and novel hosts, along with their tolerance to environmental stressors, are better predictors of impact than insect traits themselves.
  • - The research presents an integrated model that estimates the likelihood of a non-native insect causing widespread mortality in conifers, facilitating smarter regulatory and pest management strategies for future invasions.
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Warmer temperatures are expected to increase the incidence of Lyme disease through enhanced tick maturation rates and a longer season of transmission. In addition, there could be an increased risk of disease export because of infected mobile hosts, usually birds. A temperature-driven seasonal model of (Lyme disease) transmission among four host types is constructed as a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations.

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