Seed banking impacts native Acacia ulicifolia seed microbiome composition and function.

Background: Seed banks are a vital resource for preserving plant species diversity globally. However, seedling establishment and survival rates from banked seeds can be poor. Despite a growing appreciation for the role of seed-associated microbiota in supporting seed quality and plant health, our understanding of the effects of conventional seed banking processes on seed microbiomes remains limited.

Systems analysis of long-term heat stress responses in the C4 grass Setaria viridis.

Many C4 plants are used as food and fodder crops and often display improved resource use efficiency compared to C3 plants. However, the response of C4 plants to future extreme conditions such as heatwaves is less understood. Here, Setaria viridis, an emerging C4 model grass, was grown under long-term high temperature stress for two weeks (42°C, compared to 28°C).

Defining Structure-Function Relationships of Amphiphilic Excipients Enables Rational Design of Ultra-Stable Biopharmaceuticals.

Biopharmaceuticals are the fastest-growing class of drugs in the healthcare industry, but their global reach is severely limited by their propensity for rapid aggregation. Currently, surfactant excipients such as polysorbates and poloxamers are used to prevent protein aggregation, which significantly extends shelf-life. Unfortunately, these excipients are themselves unstable, oxidizing rapidly into 100s of distinct compounds, some of which cause severe adverse events in patients.

Genomic Introgression Between Critically Endangered and Stable Species of Darwin's Tree Finches on the Galapagos Islands.

Natural hybridisation among rare or endangered species and stable congenerics is increasingly topical for the conservation of species-level diversity under anthropogenic impacts. Evidence for beneficial genes being introgressed into or selected for in hybrids raises concurrent questions about its evolutionary significance. In Darwin's tree finches on the island of Floreana (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador), the Critically Endangered medium tree finch () undergoes introgression with the stable small tree finch (), and hybrids regularly backcross with Earlier studies in 2005-2013 documented an increase in the frequency of hybridisation on Floreana using field-based and microsatellite data.

Land Use Change Consistently Reduces α- But Not β- and γ-Diversity of Bees.

Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α-diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e.

Relationship between wind speed and plant hydraulics at the global scale.

Wind is an important ecological factor for plants as it can increase evapotranspiration and cause dehydration. However, the impact of wind on plant hydraulics at a global scale remains unclear. Here we compiled plant key hydraulic traits, including water potential at 50% loss of hydraulic conductivity (P), xylem-specific hydraulic conductivity (K), leaf area to sapwood area ratio (A/A) and conduit diameter (D) with 2,786 species-at-site combinations across 1,922 woody species at 469 sites worldwide and analysed their correlations with wind speed.

The giant genome of lily provides insights into the hybridization of cultivated lilies.

Lilies are economically important monocots known for their ornamental flowers, bulbs, and large genomes. The absence of their genomic information has impeded evolutionary studies and genome-based breeding efforts. Here, we present reference genomes for Lilium sargentiae (lily, 35.

TracMyAir smartphone application for modeling exposures to PM and ozone - Integration with air quality networks and location-activity sensors.

Epidemiologic studies of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O) often use outdoor concentrations from central-site monitors or air quality model estimates as exposure surrogates, which can result in exposure errors. We previously developed an exposure model called TracMyAir, which is an iPhone application that determines seven tiers of individual-level exposure metrics for ambient PM and O using outdoor concentrations, home building characteristics, weather, time-activities. The exposure metrics with increasing information needs and complexity include: outdoor concentration (C, Tier 1), building infiltration factor (F, Tier 2), indoor concentration (C, Tier 3), time spent in microenvironments (ME) (T, Tier 4), personal exposure factor (F, Tier 5), exposure (E, Tier 6), and inhaled dose (D, Tier 7).

Faster than expected: release of nitrogen and phosphorus from decomposing woody litter.

Deadwood represents globally important carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) pools. Current wood nutrient dynamics models are extensions of those developed for leaf litter decomposition. However, tissue structure and dominant decomposers differ between leaf and woody litter, and recent evidence suggests that decomposer stoichiometry, in combination with litter quality, may affect nutrient release.

The cost of recovering Australia's threatened species.

Accounting for the cost of repairing the degradation of Earth's biosphere is critical to guide conservation and sustainable development decisions. Yet the costs of repairing nature through the recovery of a continental suite of threatened species across their range have never been calculated. We estimated the cost of in situ recovery of nationally listed terrestrial and freshwater threatened species (n = 1,657) across the megadiverse continent of Australia by combining the spatially explicit costs of all strategies required to address species-specific threats.

Multi-omic profiles of Sorghum genotypes with contrasting heat tolerance connect pathways related to thermotolerance.

Understanding how crop varieties acclimate to elevated temperatures is key to priming them for future climates. Here, we exposed two genotypes of Sorghum bicolor (one sensitive to heat shock (Sen) and one tolerant (Tol)) from multiple growth temperatures to a six-day heat shock (reaching 45°C), carrying out a suite of measurements before and during heat shock. Sen consistently reduced photosynthetic functioning during heat shock, while Tol increased its photosynthetic rate.

CHUWD-H v1.0: a comprehensive historical hourly weather database for U.S. urban energy system modeling.

Reliable and continuous meteorological data are crucial for modeling the responses of energy systems and their components to weather and climate conditions, particularly in densely populated urban areas. However, existing long-term datasets often suffer from spatial and temporal gaps and inconsistencies, posing great challenges for detailed urban energy system modeling and cross-city comparison under realistic weather conditions. Here we introduce the Historical Comprehensive Hourly Urban Weather Database (CHUWD-H) v1.

Solvent-responsive covalent organic framework membranes for precise and tunable molecular sieving.

Membrane-based nanofiltration has the potential to revolutionize the large-scale treatment of organic solvents in various applications. However, the widely used commercial membranes suffer from low permeability, narrow structural tunability, and limited chemical resistance. Here, we report a strategy for fabricating covalent organic framework (COF) membranes with solvent-responsive structural flexibility.

Two Hundred Nanometer Thin Multifocal Graphene Oxide Metalens for Varying Magnification Broadband Imaging.

Conventional microscopes, which rely on multiple objective lenses for varying magnifications, are bulky, complex, and costly, making them difficult to integrate into compact devices. They require frequent manual adjustments, complicating the imaging process and increasing maintenance burdens. This paper explores the potential of single ultrathin graphene metalens to address this issue.

How Important Is Informed Natal Dispersal for Modelling the Demographic and Genetic Effects of Environmental Variability?

Dispersal is a fundamental ecological process that influences population dynamics and genetic diversity and is therefore an important component of the models used to simulate population responses to environmental change. We considered informed dispersal in relation to settlement location, where individuals could optimise selection of settlement location with regard to per capita resource availability and investigated the importance of this type of informed dispersal for simulated demography and genetic diversity under different biological and environmental scenarios. We used an individual-based simulation model scaled with reference to the ecology of small mammals in fire prone savanna ecosystems.

Modeling ClO-NOM Reactions for Predicting Byproduct Formation and Micropollutant Degradation in Surface Water.

Chlorine dioxide (ClO) is a promising alternative disinfectant/oxidant to free chlorine in drinking water treatment, while it reacts with natural organic matter (NOM) to form free chlorine, chlorite ions (ClO), and chlorate ions (ClO) as byproducts. Predicting the ClO consumption and the formation of these byproducts using a kinetic model helps to balance the trade-off between disinfection/oxidation efficiency and byproduct formation. This study establishes a summative equation to describe the reaction between ClO and ClO-reactive moieties in the NOM (CRNOM).

Tree drought physiology: critical research questions and strategies for mitigating climate change effects on forests.

Droughts of increasing severity and frequency are a primary cause of forest mortality associated with climate change. Yet, fundamental knowledge gaps regarding the complex physiology of trees limit the development of more effective management strategies to mitigate drought effects on forests. Here, we highlight some of the basic research needed to better understand tree drought physiology and how new technologies and interdisciplinary approaches can be used to address them.

Gehyra Geckos Prioritize Warm Over Humid Environments.

Maintaining stable hydric and thermal states are dual challenges for reptiles that inhabit terrestrial environments with variable conditions across time and space. Under some conditions, reptiles face a conundrum where both physiological parameters cannot be simultaneously maintained at preferred levels by behavioral or physiological means. Prioritization of behavioral regulation of hydric or thermal state, and at which point this prioritization changes, was tested for nine species of congeneric tropical geckos by assessing their use of microhabitats with distinct thermal and hydric conditions in a controlled environment.

Foliar Water Uptake Supports Water Potential Recovery but Does Not Affect Xylem Sap Composition in Two Salt-Secreting Mangroves.

Mangroves are highly salt-tolerant species, which live in saline intertidal environments, but rely on alternative, less saline water to maintain hydraulic integrity and plant productivity. Foliar water uptake (FWU) is thought to assist in hydration of mangroves, particularly during periods of acute water deficit. We investigated the dynamics of FWU in Avicennia marina and Aegiceras corniculatum by submerging and spraying excised branches and measuring leaf water potential (Ψ) at different time intervals.

How does the storage volume of semi-arid reservoirs change water quality and modulate the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates?

In the current environmental crisis scenario, it becomes increasingly important to understand the hydroclimatic effects on the availability and quality of water resources and their impacts on aquatic biodiversity. The understanding of how these components are interconnected is necessary to support initiatives for monitoring and managing water resources and protecting biodiversity. In this study, we analyzed the hierarchical effects and dissociated the complex relationships between the storage volume of tropical semi-arid reservoirs on water quality and the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates.

Marine Protected Areas That Preserve Trophic Cascades Promote Resilience of Kelp Forests to Marine Heatwaves.

Under accelerating threats from climate-change impacts, marine protected areas (MPAs) have been proposed as climate-adaptation tools to enhance the resilience of marine ecosystems. Yet, debate persists as to whether and how MPAs may promote resilience to climate shocks. Here, we use 38 years of satellite-derived kelp cover to empirically test whether a network of 58 temperate coastal MPAs in Central and Southern California enhances the resistance of kelp forest ecosystems to, and their recovery from, the unprecedented 2014-2016 marine heatwave regime that occurred in the region.

Photosynthetic responses to temperature across the tropics: a meta-analytic approach.

Background And Aims: Tropical forests exchange more carbon dioxide (CO2) with the atmosphere than any other terrestrial biome. Yet, uncertainty in the projected carbon balance over the next century is roughly three-times greater for the tropics than other ecosystems. Our limited knowledge of tropical plant physiological responses, including photosynthetic, to climate change is a substantial source of uncertainty in our ability to forecast the global terrestrial carbon sink.

Temperature and plant-available soil phosphorus drive intraspecific variation in plant economic traits of Schima superba across an elevation gradient.

Background And Aims: The whole-plant economics spectrum (PES) describes coordination between organ-level traits that together determine resource use strategies and is relevant for understanding plant responses to environmental change. Whereas coordination between organs has previously been explored across species, it remains unclear whether patterns observed across species hold within species. In addition, the key driving forces underlying this coordination warrant clarification.