Functional traits mediate the effect of land use on drivers of community stability within and across trophic levels.

Understanding how land use affects temporal stability is crucial to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Yet, the mechanistic links between land-use intensity and stability-driving mechanisms remain unclear, with functional traits likely playing a key role. Using 13 years of data from 300 sites in Germany, we tested whether and how trait-based community features mediate the effect of land-use intensity on acknowledged stability drivers (compensatory dynamics, portfolio effect, and dominant species variability), within and across plant and arthropod communities.

Chromosome-scale genome dynamics reveal signatures of independent haplotype evolution in the ancient asexual mite .

Some unique asexual species persist over time and contradict the consensus that sex is a prerequisite for long-term evolutionary survival. How they escape the dead-end fate remains enigmatic. Here, we generated a haplotype-resolved genome assembly on the basis of a single individual and collected genomic data from worldwide populations of the parthenogenetic diploid oribatid mite to identify signatures of persistence without sex.

Life history is a key driver of temporal fluctuations in tropical tree abundances.

The question of what mechanisms maintain tropical biodiversity is a critical frontier in ecology, intensified by the heightened risk of biodiversity loss faced in tropical regions. Ecological theory has shed light on multiple mechanisms that could lead to the high levels of biodiversity in tropical forests. But variation in species abundances over time may be just as important as overall biodiversity, with a more immediate connection to the risk of extirpation and biodiversity loss.

First insights into the life history of the early Miocene deer Procervulus ginsburgi from Spain.

The small-sized cervid Procervulus is considered as the most basal member of the Cervidae and one of the earliest ruminants bearing antler-like appendages. The Iberian Miocene record of this stem-cervid is extensively documented and largely overlaps with the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO), a transient period of global warming of particular interest when comparing present and near future conditions. Despite receiving a substantial amount of attention, histological studies on Procervulus are very scarce and only limited to postcranial remains of Procervulus praelucidus from Germany (MN3).

Asynchronous shifts in the demographics of two wave-swept kelp species (Laminariales) after nearly four decades.

Kelp forests are among the most abundant and productive marine ecosystems but are under threat from climate change and other anthropogenic stressors. Although knowledge is growing about how the abundance and distribution of kelp forests are changing, much less is known about the "non-lethal" effects that global change is having on the performance and health of kelp populations in areas where they persist. Here we assessed the age distribution of two common stipitate kelp species, Laminaria setchelli and Pterygophora californica, at Wizard Islet in Barkley Sound, British Columbia, Canada, and compared these data to historical demographic data collected by De Wreede (1984) and Klinger and DeWreede (1988) from the same site between 1981 and 1983.

City-Level Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes and Changes in Adult Body Mass Index.

Importance: Sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) excise taxes are popular policy interventions aimed at decreasing SSB purchasing and consumption to improve cardiometabolic health and generate revenue for public health initiatives. There is limited evidence that these taxes in the US are associated with weight-related outcomes in adults, a primary contributor to cardiometabolic health.

Objective: To determine the association between SSB excise taxes and adult body mass index (BMI) and proportion of adults with overweight or obesity among California cities and assess whether associations vary by demographic characteristics.

Persistent Effects of Landscape Context on Recruitment Dynamics During Secondary Succession of Tropical Forests.

Large-scale reforestation is promoted as an important strategy to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. A persistent challenge for efforts to restore ecosystems at scale is how to accelerate ecological processes, particularly natural regeneration. Yet, despite being recognized as an important barrier to the recovery of diverse plant communities in tropical agricultural landscapes, the impacts of dispersal limitation on natural regeneration in secondary forests-and especially how this changes as these forests grow older-are still poorly studied.

Half a Century of Temperate Non-Forest Vegetation Changes: No Net Loss in Species Richness, but Considerable Shifts in Taxonomic and Functional Composition.

In recent decades, global change and local anthropogenic pressures have severely affected natural ecosystems and their biodiversity. Although disentangling the effects of these factors is difficult, they are reflected in changes in the functional composition of plant communities. We present a comprehensive, large-scale analysis of long-term changes in plant communities of various non-forest habitat types in the Czech Republic based on 1154 vegetation-plot time series from 53 resurvey studies comprising 3909 vegetation-plot records.

Biotic and Abiotic Drivers of Ecosystem Temporal Stability in Herbaceous Wetlands in China.

Maintaining the stability of ecosystems is critical for supporting essential ecosystem services over time. However, our understanding of the contribution of the diverse biotic and abiotic factors to this stability in wetlands remains limited. Here, we combined data from a field vegetation survey of 725 herbaceous wetland sites in China with remote sensing information from the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from 2010 to 2020 to explore the contribution of biotic and abiotic factors to the temporal stability of primary productivity.

Effects of protection on large-bodied reef fishes in the western Indian Ocean.

Predatory and large-bodied coral reef fishes have fundamental roles in the functioning and biodiversity of coral reef ecosystems, but their populations are declining, largely due to overexploitation in fisheries. These fishes include sharks, groupers, Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), and Green Humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum). In the western Indian Ocean, this situation is exacerbated by limited population data on these fishes, including from conventional visual census methods, which limit the surface area surveyed.

The clockwork of insect activity: Advancing ecological understanding through automation.

Understanding insect behaviour and its underlying drivers is vital for interpreting changes in local biodiversity and predicting future trends. Conventional insect traps are typically limited to assess the composition of local insect communities over longer time periods and provide only limited insights into the effects of abiotic factors, such as light on species activity. Achieving finer temporal resolution is labour-intensive or only possible under laboratory conditions.

Proximal remote sensing: an essential tool for bridging the gap between high-resolution ecosystem monitoring and global ecology.

A new proliferation of optical instruments that can be attached to towers over or within ecosystems, or 'proximal' remote sensing, enables a comprehensive characterization of terrestrial ecosystem structure, function, and fluxes of energy, water, and carbon. Proximal remote sensing can bridge the gap between individual plants, site-level eddy-covariance fluxes, and airborne and spaceborne remote sensing by providing continuous data at a high-spatiotemporal resolution. Here, we review recent advances in proximal remote sensing for improving our mechanistic understanding of plant and ecosystem processes, model development, and validation of current and upcoming satellite missions.

Molecular Survey of Protist Enteroparasites in Bats (Order Chiroptera) from Portugal.

Purpose: Bats constitute 20% of all mammal species, playing a vital role in ecosystem health as pollinators, seed dispersers, and regulators of insect populations. However, these animals can also be reservoirs for infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria, and enteroparasites such as Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis, and Balantioides coli, raising questions about their role in the epidemiology of these agents.

Resolving spatiotemporal dynamics in bacterial multicellular populations: approaches and challenges.

SUMMARYThe development of multicellularity represents a key evolutionary transition that is crucial for the emergence of complex life forms. Although multicellularity has traditionally been studied in eukaryotes, it originates in prokaryotes. Coordinated aggregation of individual cells within the confines of a colony results in emerging, higher-level functions that benefit the population as a whole.

Effects of Polystyrene Microplastic Exposure on Liver Cell Damage, Oxidative Stress, and Gene Expression in Juvenile Crucian Carp ().

A considerable quantity of microplastic debris exists in the environment and the toxicity of these materials has a notable impact on aquatic ecosystems. In this paper, 50-500 µm polystyrene microplastics (exposure concentrations were 200 µg/L, 800 µg/L, and 3200 µg/L concentrations) were selected to study the effects of polystyrene microplastics (PS-MPs) on cell morphology, detoxification enzyme activity, and mRNA expression in the liver tissues of crucian carp juveniles. The results demonstrated that: (1) Different concentrations of PS-MPs cause varying degrees of pathological and oxidative damage to liver tissue cells of crucian carp.

Exploration of Quantum Chemistry Methods to Explain Mechanism of Mechanochemical Degradation of Typical Organic Pollutants.

The high-efficiency ball milling treatment technology primarily combines the excitation of oxidation processes with high-speed physical collisions, thereby promoting the reaction processes and enhancing the degradation effectiveness of materials. This technology has gained widespread attention in recent years for its application in the degradation of organic solid chemical pollutants. In this study, quantum chemical density functional theory (DFT) was employed to first analyze the impact of electron addition and subtraction on molecular chemical bonds.

Water Quality Characteristics and Seasonal Changes in Wastewater Treatment in the Southern Hebei Region by Branch.

This study analyzed three years of data (2021-2024) from three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), namely D, X, and T, in the main urban area of Handan, a typical city in the southern Hebei region, and investigated the influent characteristics and impact of temperature on these wastewater treatment facilities. With 90% assurance, the overall influent conditions of the three WWTPs in this region were normal. However, Plant T operated more effectively with slightly lower BOD/COD (B/C), organic carbon/total phosphorus (C/TP), and organic carbon/total nitrogen (C/TN) ratios in the influent.

An Enigmatic Wild Passerine Mortality Event in the Eastern United States.

The ability to rapidly respond to wildlife health events is essential. However, such events are often unpredictable, especially with anthropogenic disturbances and climate-related environmental changes driving unforeseen threats. Many events also are short-lived and go undocumented, making it difficult to draw on lessons learned from past investigations.

Potential of Pine Biochar to Mitigate Bacterial Hazards Present in Recycled Manure Solids from Dairy Cows.

The use of recycled manure solids (RMS) as cow bedding in dairy farms poses concerns due to its potential to harbor pathogenic and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. This study evaluated the impact of RMS supplementation with biochar at three concentrations (2.5%, 5%, and 10%) on bacterial counts and on the antimicrobial resistance and virulence profiles of and isolates.

Metabolic Blockade-Based Genome Mining of SDU050: Discovery of Diverse Secondary Metabolites.

SDU050, a fungus derived from deep-sea sediment, is a prolific producer of diverse secondary metabolites. Genome sequencing revealed the presence of at least 69 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), including 30 encoding type I polyketide synthases (PKSs). This study reports the isolation and identification of four classes of secondary metabolites from wild-type SDU050, alongside five additional metabolite classes, including three novel cytochalasins (-), obtained from a mutant strain through the metabolic blockade strategy.

Four New or Newly Recorded Species from Freshwater Habitats in Jiangxi Province, China.

Freshwater fungi consist of a highly diverse group of organisms in freshwater habitats worldwide. During a survey of fungal diversity in freshwater habitats across different regions of Jiangxi Province, China, four freshwater fungi were collected. To study their phylogenetic relationships, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1-5.

PMT4 Is Involved in -Glycosylation, Cell Wall Organization, Membrane Integrity, and Virulence.

Proteins found within the fungal cell wall usually contain both - and -oligosaccharides. -glycosylation is the process where these oligosaccharides (hereinafter: glycans) are attached to asparagine residues, while in -glycosylation the glycans are covalently bound to serine or threonine residues. The family is grouped into , , and subfamilies.

Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Reveal the Effects of Different Fermentation Times on Antioxidant Activities of .

is a fungus that is cultured through fermentation from wild Chinese cordyceps. While studies have examined its metabolites, the evaluation of its antioxidant capacity remains to be conducted. The antioxidant results of indicate that the ferric ion-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), antioxidant capacity (2.

Molecular Phylogeny and Morphology Reveal Four New Species of (Bolbitiaceae, Agaricales) from the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, China.

The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, known for its high altitude, geological history of plate collision, crustal uplift, and special ecology factors, provides an ideal environment for studying fungal biodiversity in extreme environmental conditions. Some species within the , containing secondary metabolites such as psilocybin, phallotoxins, and amatoxins, have potential medicinal value for treating psychiatric disorders and for use in drug development. This study investigates (Bolbitiaceae, Agaricales) on the Plateau, based on specimens collected over the past decade, using morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses.

Annotated Checklist of Poroid Hymenochaetoid Fungi in Central Asia: Taxonomic Diversity, Ecological Roles, and Potential Distribution Patterns.

Central Asia, located at the heart of Eurasia, is renowned for its varied climate and vertical vegetative distribution, which support diverse biomes and position it as a global biodiversity hotspot. Despite this ecological richness, Central Asia's fungal diversity, particularly wood-inhabiting macrofungi, remains largely unexplored. This study investigates the diversity, ecological roles, and potential distribution of poroid Hymenochaetoid fungi in the region.