Long-term impact of exposure to Royal Guard, a pyriproxyfen-based bed net, on pyrethroid-resistant malaria vectors from Cameroon using DNA-based metabolic resistance markers.

Background: Escalating pyrethroid resistance in malaria vectors highlights the urgency of implementing new control tools incorporating non-pyrethroid molecules. Here, using DNA-based metabolic resistance markers, we assessed the efficacy of the dual active ingredients net Royal Guard against pyrethroids-resistant malaria vectors in Cameroon, establishing its long-term impact on mosquitoes' life traits after exposure.

Results: Cone assays revealed low efficacy of Royal Guard against field Anopheles populations.

Putting seedlings on the map: Trade-offs in demographic rates between ontogenetic size classes in five tropical forests.

All species must partition resources among the processes that underly growth, survival, and reproduction. The resulting demographic trade-offs constrain the range of viable life-history strategies and are hypothesized to promote local coexistence. Tropical forests pose ideal systems to study demographic trade-offs as they have a high diversity of coexisting tree species whose life-history strategies tend to align along two orthogonal axes of variation: a growth-survival trade-off that separates species with fast growth from species with high survival and a stature-recruitment trade-off that separates species that achieve large stature from species with high recruitment.

A dataset of Antarctic ecosystems in ice-free lands: classification, descriptions, and maps.

Antarctica, Earth's least understood and most remote continent, is threatened by human disturbances and climate-related changes, underscoring the imperative for biodiversity inventories to inform conservation. Antarctic ecosystems support unique species and genetic diversity, deliver essential ecosystem services and contribute to planetary stability. We present Antarctica's first comprehensive ecosystem classification and map of ice-free lands, which host most of the continent's biodiversity.

Cost-effective adaptations increase rice production while reducing pollution under climate change.

Rice is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) and nitrogen pollution. While best management practices have been developed to enhance the sustainability of rice production under current climates, their adaptability and efficacy under future climate scenarios remain uncertain. Here we evaluated 49 best management practices across global grid cells of rice-producing areas in terms of increasing rice production, reducing GHG emissions and minimizing nitrogen pollution under future climate conditions.

Thermal variation influences the transcriptome of the major malaria vector Anopheles stephensi.

The distribution and abundance of ectothermic mosquitoes are strongly affected by temperature, but mechanisms remain unexplored. We describe the effect of temperature on the transcriptome of Anopheles stephensi, an invasive vector of human malaria. Adult females were maintained across a range of mean temperatures (20 °C, 24 °C and 28 °C), with daily fluctuations of +5 °C and -4 °C at each mean temperature.

Seasonal plasticity in daily timing of flight activity in is driven by temperature modulation of dawn entrainment.

The Asian malaria vector is invading Africa, requiring it to adapt to novel climates and ecosystems. In part, this may be facilitated by 's poorly understood seasonal behavioural plasticity in flight timing, leading to earlier biting activity in cold Asian winters and later biting times in the warm summer. Changes in behavioural timing could be directly imposed by seasonal variation in ambient light and temperature levels or result from altered entrainment of intrinsically expressed circadian rhythms by these factors.

BioClocks UK: driving robust cycles of discovery to impact.

Chronobiology is a multidisciplinary field that extends across the tree of life, transcends all scales of biological organization, and has huge translational potential. For the UK to harness the opportunities presented within applied chronobiology, we need to build our network outwards to reach stakeholders that can directly benefit from our discoveries. In this article, we discuss the importance of biological rhythms to our health, society, economy and environment, with a particular focus on circadian rhythms.

The relationship between primate distal fibula trabecular architecture and arboreality, phylogeny and size.

The fibula, despite being traditionally overlooked compared to the femur and the tibia, has recently received attention in primate functional morphology due to its correlation with the degree of arboreality (DOA). Highlighting further fibular features that are associated with arboreal habits would be key to improving palaeobiological inferences in fossil specimens. Here we present the first investigation on the trabecular bone structure of the primate fibula, focusing on the distal epiphysis, across a vast array of species.

Swatting Flies: Biting Insects as Non-Invasive Samplers for Mammalian Population Genomics.

Advances in next-generation sequencing have allowed the use of DNA obtained from unusual sources for wildlife studies. However, these samples have been used predominantly to sequence mitochondrial DNA for species identification while population genetics analyses have been rare. Since next-generation sequencing allows indiscriminate detection of all DNA fragments in a sample, technically it should be possible to sequence whole genomes of animals from environmental samples.

Revealing trends in measles immunity during periods of varying measles circulation in Madagascar.

Estimating the durability of immunity from vaccination is complicated by unreported re-vaccination, and unobserved natural infection or reexposure, which could result in overestimation of protection longevity. We tested serial cross-sectional serum samples from 2005 to 2015 (N=2,530) for IgG to examine measles seroprevalence, spatiotemporal patterns of titers across regions and antibody dynamics among children aged 1-9 years who grew up during varying measles circulation in Madagascar under a one-dose vaccination schedule. We found that measles seroprevalence has generally decreased over this time period.

Interactive and unimodal relationships between plant biomass, abiotic factors, and plant diversity in global grasslands.

Grasslands cover approximately a third of the Earth's land surface and account for about a third of terrestrial carbon storage. Yet, we lack strong predictive models of grassland plant biomass, the primary source of carbon in grasslands. This lack of predictive ability may arise from the assumption of linear relationships between plant biomass and the environment and an underestimation of interactions of environmental variables.

A Chromosome-level genome assembly of the alpine medicinal plant Bergenia purpurascens (Saxifragaceae).

Mountain ecosystems harbor high levels of biodiversity, but the genetic mechanisms underlying adaptation to harsh alpine conditions remain largely unknown. Bergenia purpurascens (Saxifragaceae) is an important alpine endemic species of the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains (HHM), with this species being used as a source of medicine and as an ornamental plant. In this study, we generated a high-quality genome assembly comprising scaffolds representing the 17 chromosomes, with a total length of 650.

Punctuational evolution is pervasive in distal site metastatic colonization.

The evolution of metastasis, the spread of cancer to distal sites within the body, represents a lethal stage of cancer progression. Yet, the evolutionary dynamics that shape the emergence of metastatic disease remain unresolved. Here, using single-cell lineage tracing data in combination with phylogenetic statistical methods, we show that the evolutionary trajectory of metastatic disease is littered with bursts of rapid molecular change as new cellular subpopulations appear, a pattern known as punctuational evolution.

Adaptation in a keystone grazer under novel predation pressure.

Understanding how species adapt to environmental change is necessary to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services. Growing evidence suggests species can adapt rapidly to novel selection pressures like predation from invasive species, but the repeatability and predictability of selection remain poorly understood in wild populations. We tested how a keystone aquatic herbivore, , evolved in response to predation pressure by the introduced zooplanktivore .

Variation in faecal testosterone levels in male gray whales on a foraging ground relative to maturity and timing.

Understanding wildlife reproductive seasonality is crucial for effective management and long-term monitoring of species. This study investigates the seasonal variability of testosterone in male Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG) gray whales, using an eight-year dataset (2016-2023) of individual sightings, drone-based photogrammetry and endocrine analysis of faecal samples. We analyzed the relationship between faecal testosterone levels and total body length (TL), body condition (body area index, BAI), sexual maturity and day of the year using generalized additive mixed models.

Assessing the impact of sewage and wastewater on antimicrobial resistance in nearshore Antarctic biofilms and sediments.

Background: Despite being recognised as a global problem, our understanding of human-mediated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spread to remote regions of the world is limited. Antarctica, often referred to as "the last great wilderness", is experiencing increasing levels of human visitation through tourism and expansion of national scientific operations. Therefore, it is critical to assess the impact that these itinerant visitors have on the natural environment.

Trade-off between pollinator-wildflower diversity & grassland yields.

This is a critical moment for land use policy globally, with many countries (e.g. the UK and the European Union) currently undertaking significant green reforms of their agricultural policies.

Crossing the streams: Improving data quality and integration across the One Health genomics continuum with data standards and implementation strategies.

The Canadian Genomics Research and Development Initiative for Antimicrobial Resistance (GRDI-AMR) uses a genomics-based approach to understand how health care, food production and the environment contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance. Integrating genomics contextual data streams across the One Health continuum is challenging because of the diversity in data scope, content and structure. To better enable data harmonization for analyses, a contextual data standard was developed.

A transdisciplinary, comparative analysis reveals key risks from Arctic permafrost thaw.

Permafrost thaw poses diverse risks to Arctic environments and livelihoods. Understanding the effects of permafrost thaw is vital for informed policymaking and adaptation efforts. Here, we present the consolidated findings of a risk analysis spanning four study regions: Longyearbyen (Svalbard, Norway), the Avannaata municipality (Greenland), the Beaufort Sea region and the Mackenzie River Delta (Canada) and the Bulunskiy District of the Sakha Republic (Russia).

Species-habitat networks reveal conservation implications that other community analyses do not detect.

Grassland restoration is an important conservation intervention supporting declining insect pollinators in threatened calcareous grassland landscapes. While the success of restoration is often quantified using simple measures of diversity or similarity to target communities, these measures do not capture all fundamental aspects of community reconstruction. Here, we develop species-habitat networks that aim to define habitat-level foraging dependencies of pollinators across restored grassland landscapes and compare their value to these more conventional measures of community restoration.

Attendance of Underserved Populations at Field-Based Health Services Events: Application of Quasi-Experimental Methods that Accommodate the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the ability to receive health care services. Field-based health services became a logistically feasible alternative to medical center-based care. We compared two different field-based approaches to the delivery of SARS-CoV-2 testing and health education services for Latine communities using a quasi-experimental design that included propensity score matching to accommodate the challenges posed to research by the pandemic.

Management Measures and Trends of Biological Invasions in Europe: A Survey-Based Assessment of Local Managers.

Biological invasions are a major threat to biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and nature's contributions to people worldwide. However, the effectiveness of invasive alien species (IAS) management measures and the progress toward achieving biodiversity targets remain uncertain due to limited and nonuniform data availability. Management success is usually assessed at a local level and documented in technical reports, often written in languages other than English, which makes such data notoriously difficult to collect at large geographic scales.

First evidence of transovarial transmission of Kyasanur Forest disease virus in Haemaphysalis and Rhipicephalus ticks in the wild.

Background: Kyasanur forest disease virus (KFDV) is a tick-borne flavivirus causing debilitating and potentially fatal disease in people in the Western Ghats region of India. The transmission cycle is complex, involving multiple vector and host species, but there are significant gaps in ecological knowledge. Empirical data on pathogen-vector-host interactions and incrimination have not been updated since the last century, despite significant local changes in land use and the expansion of KFD to new areas.

Changes in the potato rhizosphere microbiota richness and diversity occur in a growth stage-dependent manner.

Plant root and soil-associated microbiomes are influenced by niches, including bulk and rhizosphere soil. In this work, we collected bulk and rhizosphere soil samples at four potato developmental stages (leaf growth, flowering, tuber elongation and harvest) to identify whether rhizosphere microbiota are structured in a growth stage-dependent manner. The bacterial and fungal microbiota showed significant temporal differences in the rhizosphere and bulk soil.

Soil Nitrogen Supply Exerts Largest Influence on Leaf Nitrogen in Environments with the Greatest Leaf Nitrogen Demand.

Accurately representing the relationships between nitrogen supply and photosynthesis is crucial for reliably predicting carbon-nitrogen cycle coupling in Earth System Models (ESMs). Most ESMs assume positive correlations amongst soil nitrogen supply, leaf nitrogen content, and photosynthetic capacity. However, leaf photosynthetic nitrogen demand may influence the leaf nitrogen response to soil nitrogen supply; thus, responses to nitrogen supply are expected to be the largest in environments where demand is the greatest.