5,895 results match your criteria: "Centre for Ecology[Affiliation]"

The sexually dimorphic mutillid wasps (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) are generally poorly known insects; in the Iberian Peninsula several common and widespread species are known from only one sex, for which sex-associations still need to be established. Such is the case with Smicromyrme (Astomyrme) suberratus Invrea, 1957, known only from males, and Physetopoda pusilla (Klug in Waltl, 1835), known from females. In this paper, making use of conclusive sex-association experiments and other elements, S.

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Four new species of Crinopseudoa (Araneae: Corinnidae) from West Africa.

Zootaxa

October 2024

Royal Museum for Central Africa; Leuvensesteenweg 13; B-3080 Tervuren; Belgium.

Four new species of Crinopseudoa are described from West Africa. Crinopseudoa kru sp. nov.

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Avenues towards reconciling wild and managed bee proponents.

Trends Ecol Evol

January 2025

Swiss Bee Research Centre, Agroscope, Berne 3003, Switzerland; Department Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland.

Bees are crucial for food security and biodiversity. However, managed bees are increasingly considered drivers of wild bee declines, leading to stakeholder conflicts and restrictive policies. We propose avenues to reconcile wild and managed bee proponents and point out knowledge gaps that hinder the development of evidence-based policies.

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Enhanced flight performance in hoverfly migrants.

iScience

December 2024

Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, UK.

Article Synopsis
  • Many animals, including the marmalade hoverfly, migrate seasonally, which affects their flight characteristics.
  • The study found that migratory hoverflies can fly twice as far as non-migratory ones, with body condition playing a crucial role.
  • Hoverflies with more fat can fly almost five times farther than those with less fat, highlighting the significance of energy stores for long-distance migration.
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All foraging animals face a trade-off: how much time should they invest in exploitation of known resources versus exploration to discover new resources? For group-living central place foragers, this balance is challenging. Due to the nature of their movement patterns, exploration and exploitation are often mutually exclusive, while the availability of social information may discourage individuals from exploring. To examine these trade-offs, we GPS-tracked groups of greater spear-nosed bats () from three colonies on Isla Colón, Panamá.

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Phenological responses to climate change vary across trophic levels. However, how trophic phenological synchrony determines species' distributions through its effects on population dynamics has rarely been addressed. Here, we show that phenological variation underlies population and geographical range dynamics in a range-shifting herbivore, and demonstrate its interplay with changing trophic interactions.

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Are more data always better? - Machine learning forecasting of algae based on long-term observations.

J Environ Manage

December 2024

Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom.

Bloom-forming algae present a unique challenge to water managers as they can significantly impair provision of important ecosystem services and cause health risks to humans and animals. Consequently, effective short-term algae forecasts are important as they provide early warnings and enable implementation of mitigation strategies. In this context, machine learning (ML) emerges as a promising forecasting tool.

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Thiamin (vitamin B1, thiamine) transfer in the aquatic food web from lower to higher trophic levels.

PLoS One

December 2024

Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial Model Systems (EEMiS), Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden.

Article Synopsis
  • The study focused on thiamin (vitamin B1), a crucial micronutrient produced by bacteria and phytoplankton, highlighting its importance for higher trophic level consumers like fish and zooplankton.* -
  • Using a mesocosm system, researchers observed that while phytoplankton absorbed thiamin quickly, varying levels did not significantly impact their community structure or abundance, although nitrogen addition did.* -
  • The research found that thiamin concentrations decreased along the food chain, with only about six percent of thiamin present in producers reaching top consumers like fish, demonstrating the concept of trophic dilution for micronutrients.*
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Animal movements are typically influenced by multiple environmental factors simultaneously, and individuals vary in their response to this environmental heterogeneity. Therefore, understanding how environmental aspects, including biotic, abiotic, and anthropogenic factors, influence the movements of wild animals is an important focus of wildlife research and conservation. We apply Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to analyze movement networks of a bull shark population in a network of acoustic receivers and identify the effects of environmental, social, or other types of covariates on their movements.

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We present a genome assembly from an individual male Straw Grass-veneer moth, (Arthropoda; Insecta; Lepidoptera; Crambidae). The genome sequence has a length of 511.50 megabases.

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The current study investigates groundwater contamination in Darrang district, situated in the flood-prone Brahmaputra Valley. This research evaluates the concentrations and geospatial distributions of iron, fluoride, and arsenic in groundwater samples (n = 347) and assesses their potential ecotoxicological risks to human health. Multivariate statistical techniques were used to investigate the sources and the mobilization mechanism of the contaminants in the aquifer system.

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The WHAM-Fβ model describes the toxic effects of mixtures of protons and metal cations towards biological species, using a set of intrinsic parameters for the cations (α, α*) and a sensitivity parameter (β) for each species. We applied the model to extensive water chemistry and zooplankton species occurrence data for four lakes contaminated with acidity and metals (Al, Ni, Cu, Zn) at Sudbury, Ontario, over the period 1973-2018, during which cation contamination declined, and zooplankton species numbers increased. Assuming that the appearance of a species resulted solely from decreases in water toxicity, and that α and α* values previously derived from laboratory toxicity test data could be applied in the field, we used the field data to estimate values of β for individual lake zooplankton species.

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Background: Cross-sectoral collaborations as exemplified by the One Health approach, are widely endorsed as pragmatic avenues for addressing zoonotic diseases, but operationalisation remain limited in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Complexities and competing interests and agendas of key stakeholders and the underlying politico-administrative context can all shape outcomes of collaborative arrangements. Evidence is building that organised collaborations are complex political initiatives where different objectives; individual and institutional agendas need to be reconciled to incentivise collaborations.

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Dirty habits: potential for spread of antibiotic-resistance by black-headed gulls from waste-water treatment plants.

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int

December 2024

Department of Conservation Biology and Global Change, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD), CSIC, Américo Vespucio 26, 41092, Seville, Spain.

Anthropogenic environments such as wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and landfills are sources of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) frequently use WWTPs and may be vectors for AMR. We used GPS tracking data for 39 gulls for up to 8 months, combined with a shedding curve, to study sources and dispersal distances of AMR in Iberia.

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Article Synopsis
  • Effective conservation of migratory species requires protecting their habitats throughout the entire year, but assessments of current protected areas (PAs) have been limited.
  • A study on 418 migratory butterfly species found that 84% lacked adequate PA coverage in at least one season, with only 17% being adequately protected in one season and 45% inadequately protected year-round.
  • Geographic differences highlight that while 77% of species met conservation goals in Sri Lanka, only 32% did so in Italy, indicating a need for coordinated international efforts to create comprehensive PA networks for migratory insects.
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Increasing extreme climatic events threaten the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Because soil microbes govern key biogeochemical processes, understanding their response to climate extremes is crucial in predicting the consequences for ecosystem functioning. Here we subjected soils from 30 grasslands across Europe to four contrasting extreme climatic events under common controlled conditions (drought, flood, freezing and heat), and compared the response of soil microbial communities and their functioning with those of undisturbed soils.

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We present a genome assembly from an individual female (the harlequin ladybird; Arthropoda; Insecta; Coleoptera; Coccinellidae). The genome sequence is 426 megabases in span. The majority (99.

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Serological evidence of sarbecovirus exposure along Sunda pangolin trafficking pathways.

BMC Biol

November 2024

State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.

Background: Early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) involved in the illegal wildlife trade in mainland China were identified as hosts of severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronaviruses (SARSr-CoVs). Although it is unconfirmed whether pangolins or other traded wildlife served as intermediate hosts for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the trafficking of pangolins presents a clear risk for transmission of viruses with zoonotic and epizootic potential regardless. We have investigated the origins of pangolin carcasses seized in Hong Kong and have evaluated their potential exposure to SARSr-CoVs, other coronaviruses, and paramyxoviruses, aiming to address a gap in our knowledge with regard to the role of wildlife trade in the maintenance and emergence of pathogens with zoonotic and epizootic potential.

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Article Synopsis
  • Biologging technology has been employed to track the behaviors and migrations of various wild animals, including a notable event involving the predation of an Atlantic bluefin tuna by an orca.
  • The study details a 19-minute predation sequence where the tuna displayed high activity levels during its capture and subsequent handling by the orca.
  • Unique datasets collected from both the tuna and orca give valuable insights into their energetic behaviors and patterns of interaction in the ocean.
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Low average shoreline change rate in 51 years on the raised Aldabra Atoll.

Sci Rep

November 2024

Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland.

Article Synopsis
  • Atolls, like Aldabra, are increasingly threatened by rising sea levels and declining sediment supply, leading to faster erosion and loss of adaptive capacity.
  • A study using aerial and satellite imagery from 1960 to 2011 revealed that while 61% of Aldabra's shoreline remained stable, 24% experienced minor changes, with erosion and accretion rates being almost balanced.
  • The research emphasizes the importance of ongoing shoreline monitoring to protect unique ecosystems and suggests that maintaining sediment availability is vital for enabling atolls to adapt to changing conditions.
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Plant defense metabolites influence the interaction between an insect herbivore and an entomovirus.

Curr Biol

December 2024

Eco-environmental Protection Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Protected Horticultural Technology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Key Laboratory of Low-carbon Green Agriculture in South eastern China, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, School of Pharmacy of East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 201403, China; Institute of Pesticides & Pharmaceuticals, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China. Electronic address:

The tri-trophic interaction of plants, insect herbivores, and entomoviruses is an important topic in ecology and pest control. The susceptibility of insect herbivores to entomoviruses (e.g.

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