Generalized Stomatal Optimization of Evolutionary Fitness Proxies for Predicting Plant Gas Exchange Under Drought, Heatwaves, and Elevated CO.

Stomata control plant water loss and photosynthetic carbon gain. Developing more generalized and accurate stomatal models is essential for earth system models and predicting responses under novel environmental conditions associated with global change. Plant optimality theories offer one promising approach, but most such theories assume that stomatal conductance maximizes photosynthetic net carbon assimilation subject to some cost or constraint of water.

Prevalence, incidence, and complications of malnutrition in severely injured patients.

Background: Severely injured patients may suffer from acute disease-related or injury-related malnutrition involving a marked inflammatory response. This study investigated the prevalence and incidence of malnutrition and its relation with complications in severely injured patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: This observational prospective cohort study included severely injured patients (Injury Severity Score ≥ 16), admitted to the ICU of five level-1 trauma centers in the Netherlands and United States.

Maximizing Identification Precision of Hymenoptera and Brachycera (Diptera) With a Non-Destructive DNA Metabarcoding Approach.

In recent years, DNA metabarcoding has been used for a more efficient assessment of bulk samples. However, there remains a paucity of studies examining potential disparities in species identification methodologies. Here, we explore the outcomes of diverse clustering and filtering techniques on data from a non-destructive metabarcoding approach, compared to species-level morphological identification of Brachycera (Diptera) and Hymenoptera of two bulk samples collected with Malaise traps.

Dating the origin of a viral domestication event in parasitoid wasps attacking Diptera.

Over the course of evolution, hymenopteran parasitoids have developed a close relationship with heritable viruses, sometimes integrating viral genes into their chromosomes. For example, in parasitoids belonging to the genus, 13 viral genes from the family have been domesticated to deliver immunosuppressive factors to host immune cells, thereby protecting parasitoid offspring from the host immune response. The present study aims to comprehensively characterize this domestication event in terms of the viral genes involved, the wasp diversity affected by this event and its chronology.

Tail Tales: How Ecological Context Mediates Signal Effectiveness in a Lizard.

Animal signals are complex, comprising multiple components influenced by ecological factors and viewing perspectives that together impact their overall effectiveness. Our study explores how these factors affect the efficacy of multi-component signals in the Qinghai toad-headed agama, Phrynocephalus vlangalii. Using 3D animations, we simulated natural environments to evaluate how tail coiling and tail lashing-two primary tail displays-vary in effectiveness from both conspecific and predator perspectives under different ecological conditions.