Existing levels of biodiversity and river location may determine changes from small hydropower developments.

Global ecosystems are facing anthropogenic threats that affect their ecological functions and biodiversity. However, we still lack an understanding of how biodiversity can mediate the responses of ecosystems or communities to human disturbance across spatial gradients. Here, we examined how existing, spatial patterns of biodiversity influence the ecological effects of small hydropower plants (SHPs) on macroinvertebrates in river ecosystems.

Reassessing the presence of alien predatory mites and their prospects in the face of future climate change.

Background: Climate change poses uncertainties in the effectiveness of classical biological control (CBC), and there is a lack of information on the establishment of natural enemy populations under present and future climatic conditions. The objective is to explore current traces of two alien predators (Neoseiulus californicus and Neoseiulus fallacis; introduced for the CBC program in the 1980s) and their future expansion under climate change in Taiwan.

Results: The results indicated that N.

Desiccation tolerance of Termitidae termites in relation to their nest type.

The family Termitidae is renowned for its diverse nesting behaviors, with the evolution of epigeal and arboreal nests hypothesized to increase desiccation stress due to greater exposure to air. However, these nests may also alleviate desiccation stress through humidity regulation. To explore the implications of acquiring epigeal and arboreal nests, we investigated desiccation tolerance traits in 16 Termitidae termite species with varying nest types and analyzed trait correlations.

Joint influence of architectural and spatiotemporal factors on the presence of Aedes aegypti in urban environments.

Background: Urbanization has led to the proliferation of high-rise buildings, which have substantially influenced the distribution of dengue vectors, such as Aedes aegypti (L.). However, knowledge gaps exist regarding the individual and combined effects of architectural and spatiotemporal factors on dengue vector.

Seasonality can override the effects of anthropogenic activities on microplastic presence in invertebrate deposit feeders in an urban river system.

Microplastic pollution is an urgent threat to the biota of aquatic ecosystems and is generally recognized as a global issue. Identifying the sources of microplastics is acknowledged as the most effective approach for mitigating microplastic pollution. However, the factors that regulate the spatiotemporal dynamics of microplastics in urban river networks, such as microplastic sources and other variables, have not been studied together at the watershed scale, let alone regarding their impact on internal microplastics.

Effects of Farming Systems on Insect Communities in the Paddy Fields of a Simplified Landscape During a Pest-control Intervention.

Agricultural intensification is one of the major threats to global biodiversity and ecosystem services. Sustainable management of agricultural lands can reduce these impacts, but few efforts have been made in the context of paddy rice fields, especially in simplified landscapes composed of large monocultures separated by fragments of natural lands, such as in Taiwan or elsewhere in Asia. In this study, during a pest control intervention, we examined the effects of management practices on insect communities under conventional and organic farming systems in the paddy fields of northern Taiwan in 2016.

Weather fluctuation can override the effects of integrated nutrient management on fungal disease incidence in the rice fields in Taiwan.

Both weather fluctuation and farming system influence the epidemiology of crop diseases. However, short-term experiments are difficult to mechanistically extrapolate into long-term ecological responses. Using a mechanistic model with Bayesian inference, long-term data spanning 10 years were used to construct relationships among weather fluctuation (temperature, relative humidity, wind, and rainfall), farming system (conventional and low-external-input farming), and crop disease in experimental rice fields in Taiwan.

Hydrological Season Can Have Unexpectedly Insignificant Influences on the Elevational Patterns of Functional Diversity of Riverine Macroinvertebrates.

Spatial biodiversity is a key issue in biogeography for the explorations of biological origin and diversification. However, seldom studies have addressed the temporal changes in spatial patterns of biodiversity. We explored the taxonomic and functional diversities of riverine macroinvertebrates in central China, with the elevational gradient, in different seasons in a normal climate year (i.

A Mini-Review of Strategies for Quantifying Anthropogenic Activities in Microplastic Studies in Aquatic Environments.

Microplastic pollution is no longer neglected worldwide, as recent studies have unveiled its potential harm to ecosystems and, even worse, to human health. Numerous studies have documented the ubiquity of microplastics, reflecting the necessity of formulating corresponding policies to mitigate the accumulation of microplastics in natural environments. Although anthropogenic activities are generally acknowledged as the primary source of microplastics, a robust approach to identify sources of microplastics is needed to provide scientific suggestions for practical policymaking.

Biological traits can mediate species-specific, quasi-extinction risks of macroinvertebrates in streams experiencing frequent extreme floods.

Most research on the ecological responses to extreme floods examines impacts at short time scales, whereas long-term datasets combining hydrological and biological information remain rare. Using such data, we applied time-series analysis to investigate simultaneous effects of a biotic factor (density dependence), an abiotic factor (extreme floods), and spatial synchrony in the population dynamics of three riverine insects. Spatial synchronization of population dynamics by extreme floods varied among species.

Timing and magnitude of climatic extremes differentially elevate mortality but enhance recovery in a fish population.

The countervailing effects of disturbances (e.g., high mortality and enhanced recovery) on population dynamics can occur through demographic processes under rapidly increasing climatic extremes.

Tailoring crystallization and physical properties of palm mid-fraction with sorbitan tristearate and sucrose stearate.

This paper addresses sorbitan and sucrose ester in physical transformations of palm mid-fraction (PMF). Both emulsifiers influenced the crystallization properties of PMF, mainly due to emulsifier solubility, which affects its ability to interfere with the kinetics of solution-mediated phase transformations. DSC results corroborate the polymorphism analysis, indicating that the mechanism and rate of phase transformation depend on the chemical structure and amount of each emulsifier.

Niche Modeling May Explain the Historical Population Failure of in Taiwan: Implications of Biocontrol Strategies.

Biological control commonly involves the commercialization and introduction of natural enemies. Athias-Henriot, a mite species widely used in the control of spider mites, was imported to Taiwan in the 1990s and was mass-reared and released into the field. However, none have been observed in comprehensive surveys of phytoseiid mites for over 30 years.

Assessment of potential invasion for six phytophagous quarantine pests in Taiwan.

Pest risk assessment is typically performed by expert taxonomists using a pest's biological data. However, the biological data or expert taxonomists may be difficult to find. Here, we used species distribution modelling to predict potential invasion in which phytophagous quarantine pests survive in Taiwan; the pests (unrecorded yet in Taiwan) included were three notorious quarantine whiteflies (Crenidorsum aroidephagus, Aleurothrixus trachoides, and Paraleyrodes minei) and three aphids (Nasonovia ribisnigri, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, and Viteus vitifoliae).

Watershed farmland area and instream water quality co-determine the stream primary producer in the central Hengduan Mountains, southwestern China.

As the main primary producer in stream ecosystems, periphyton is the fundamental of stream ecosystems and plays an essential role in maintaining stream biodiversity. The central Hengduan Mountains is one of the famous global biodiversity hotspots. However, for stream biodiversity conservations, the fundamental information about the spatial pattern of stream periphyton and the determining factors in this region remains largely unknown.

Effects of anthropogenic activities on microplastics in deposit-feeders (Diptera: Chironomidae) in an urban river of Taiwan.

The presence of microplastics (MPs) in the environment has generated global concerns. However, the explicit assessment of the effect of multiple anthropogenic activities on the existence of MPs in the freshwater system is scarcely reported. This study quantified anthropogenic activities and analyzed their relationship with MPs on a freshwater organism: the midge larvae (Diptera: Chironomidae).

Semi-automated identification of biological control agent using artificial intelligence.

The accurate identification of biological control agents is necessary for monitoring and preventing contamination in integrated pest management (IPM); however, this is difficult for non-taxonomists to achieve in the field. Many machine learning techniques have been developed for multiple applications (e.g.

Machine-learning-based detection of adaptive divergence of the stream mayfly populations.

Adaptive divergence is a key mechanism shaping the genetic variation of natural populations. A central question linking ecology with evolutionary biology is how spatial environmental heterogeneity can lead to adaptive divergence among local populations within a species. In this study, using a genome scan approach to detect candidate loci under selection, we examined adaptive divergence of the stream mayfly in the Natori River Basin in northeastern Japan.

Climate-change influences on the response of macroinvertebrate communities to pesticide contamination in the Sacramento River, California watershed.

Limited studies have addressed how future climate-change scenarios may alter the effects of pesticides on biotic assemblages or the effects of exposures to repeated pulses of pesticide mixtures. We used reported pesticide-use data as input to a hydrological fate and transport model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) under multiple climate-change scenarios to simulate spatiotemporal dynamics of pesticides mixtures in streams on a daily time-step in the Sacramento River watershed of California. We predicted that there will be increased pesticide application with warming across the watershed, especially in upstream areas.