Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kowiyou Yessoufou, Annie Estelle Ambani, Hosam O. Elansary, Orou G. Gaoue
Summary: Understanding the incorporation of alien plant species into medicinal flora is crucial in both invasion biology and ethnobiology. Through a study on woody medicinal plants in southern Africa, it was found that while native species are more effective in treating certain diseases, alien plants are more versatile in their uses. This suggests that alien plants may have been introduced for reasons other than therapeutic benefits.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Robert J. Warren, Stacey Noezil, Chloe Mokadam
Summary: This study examined the richness of gall-inducing insects on native and non-native plants, finding that native plants host more gall-inducing species, especially woody plants. Non-native plants, particularly woody species, diminish suitable habitat for gall-inducing species, degrading biodiversity in forest ecosystems.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ziga Ogorelec, Alexander Brinker, Dietmar Straile
Summary: In recent years, Lake Constance has been invaded by the three-spined stickleback, which has led to a decline in the native whitefish population. This study compares the diet of the stickleback and the whitefish in different seasons, and evaluates the threat of the stickleback invasion on the whitefish population. The results show that, despite their small size, sticklebacks can be serious competitors to native planktivorous fish.
Article
Biology
Jong-Yun Choi, Seong-Ki Kim
Summary: The study discusses a defense strategy of Cyclops vicinus, which thrives in winter due to lower fish predation activity. Abundant phytoplankton in winter supports the population growth of C. vicinus. Winter dominance of C. vicinus is an evolved defense mechanism to avoid fish predation, contributing to regional biodiversity and freshwater food web stability.
Article
Plant Sciences
Hong-Wei Yu, Wei-Ming He
Summary: The study found that invasive and native plant congeners can grow well at any NO3-/NH4+ ratios, and their responses in terms of growth, allocation, and tolerance were approximately parallel along the 11 NO3-/NH4+ ratios across two N levels. Plant invaders tend to grow larger, have higher chlorophyll contents, allocate more biomass to roots, and exhibit stronger low-N tolerance compared to their congeneric natives.
JOURNAL OF PLANT ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Camille Coux, Isabel Donoso, Jason M. Tylianakis, Daniel Garcia, Daniel Martinez, D. Matthias Dehling, Daniel B. Stouffer
Summary: The study found that interactions involving native plants more strongly deviate from neutral predictions compared to interactions involving exotic plants. However, the proportion and composition of exotic species did not systematically alter the neutral predictions for entire networks, as only a subset of interactions were realized in different sites. This indicates that neutral and niche processes underlying individual interactions may not scale up to entire networks.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Monika Laux, Hailiang Lv, Martin H. Entling, Jens Schirmel, Aditya Narang, Mario Koehler, Somidh Saha
Summary: Trees in urban areas provide various ecosystem services, but maintaining healthy trees with high habitat diversity can be challenging. This study compared the health, microhabitats, and bat activities between native and non-native oak trees in different urban habitats in Germany. The results showed that non-native oaks were healthier but provided fewer microhabitats than native oaks.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sung Un Huh
Summary: Plants have metaCaspases instead of caspases, which play critical roles in programmed cell death during plant development and defense responses. The diversity in the number of metaCaspases in different plant species suggests varying functions due to diverse evolutions.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Erika Branchini, Elena Capitani, Roberto Burro, Ugo Savardi, Ivana Bianchi
Summary: This paper highlights the importance of opposites as an organizing principle in human thinking, showing evidence from various studies that thinking in opposites can improve reasoning skills and problem-solving abilities. By prompting individuals to think in opposites, performance in tasks can be enhanced, leading to possible benefits that warrant further systematic testing and research.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Optics
Silvano Donati, Michele Norgia
Summary: The study demonstrates that the native configuration of a self-mixing interferometer can achieve a minimum detectable displacement of 0.72 nm at a laser wavelength of 1310 nm, without any electronic processing of the signal.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Edina Torok, Sinja Zieger, Jacob Rosenthal, Rita Foldesi, Robert Galle, Teja Tscharntke, Peter Batary
Summary: Agricultural intensification has resulted in significant biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. In the European Union, agri-environment schemes have been developed to address these issues, with two main strategies focusing on either production or conservation areas. Research in Central Germany found that organic farming was more effective in controlling cereal pests compared to establishing flower strips, while natural enemy abundance benefitted from both flower strips and smaller field sizes. Combining organic farming with flower strips and reducing field sizes may enhance predator populations for more efficient pest control.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Harry B. M. Wells, Duncan M. Kimuyu, Wilfred O. Odadi, Andrew J. Dougill, Lindsay C. Stringer, Truman P. Young
Summary: This study in Kenya found that cattle stocking rates can increase the diversity of smaller wildlife, though the presence of larger wild herbivores may lessen this effect. Sites accessible to mesoherbivores had higher diversity of smaller wildlife than sites excluding mesoherbivores when cattle were not present.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Robin Pouteau, Idoia Biurrun, Caroline Brunel, Milan Chytry, Wayne Dawson, Franz Essl, Trevor Fristoe, Rense Haveman, Carsten Hobohm, Florian Jansen, Holger Kreft, Jonathan Lenoir, Bernd Lenzner, Carsten Meyer, Jesper Erenskjold Moeslund, Jan Pergl, Petr Pysek, Jens-Christian Svenning, Wilfried Thuiller, Patrick Weigelt, Thomas Wohlgemuth, Qiang Yang, Mark van Kleunen
Summary: The study found that there is a growing potential for more worldwide naturalizations of European plants in the future. The risk centers of naturalized and non-naturalized plants largely overlap and do not change much under projected future climates. However, naturalized plants are predicted to shift their potential ranges poleward over greater distances, while non-naturalized plants are expected to move further upslope under severe climate change scenarios.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Yanjie Liu, Ayub M. O. Oduor, Zhi-Cong Dai, Fang-Lei Gao, Junmin Li, Xue Zhang, Fei-Hai Yu
Summary: The use of the plant hormone paclobutrazol significantly decreased aboveground, belowground, and total biomass of test plants, with a stronger effect on belowground biomass for invasive plants. This suggests that plant hormones can differently regulate biomass allocation in invasive and native plants, contributing to the greater growth of invasive plants compared to native plants.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Timothy M. Davidson, Mark E. Torchin, Celia M. Smith
Summary: The enemy release hypothesis (ERH) predicts that introduced species suffer less damage from enemies during invasion, leading to increased performance in the introduced range. This study tested the predictions of the ERH for introduced red mangroves in Hawaii and native populations in the Caribbean and Florida. Results showed that native mangroves experienced significantly higher leaf damage, leaf loss, and produced fewer twigs and propagules compared to introduced mangroves. Leaf production and necrotic area expansion were similar. These findings suggest that the introduced mangroves have less leaf damage and may exhibit increased growth and fecundity.
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
(2023)
Article
Limnology
Mandy Velthuis, Joost. A. Keuskamp, Elisabeth S. Bakker, Maarten Boersma, Ulrich Sommer, Ellen van Donk, Dedmer B. Van de Waal
Summary: This study examines the stoichiometric responses of marine phytoplankton to elevated pCO(2) and warming, and finds that elevated pCO(2) increases C:N and C:P ratios and enhances phytoplankton growth rates. However, warming does not consistently alter phytoplankton elemental composition. These findings suggest a stoichiometric compensation mechanism for reduced oceanic carbon export due to declining primary production in the future.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hui Jin, Casper H. A. van Leeuwen, Dedmer B. van de Waal, Elisabeth S. Bakker
Summary: This study investigates the impact of reducing wind-induced sediment resuspension on phytoplankton biomass, benthic algae development, and zooplankton abundance in shallow lakes. Results show that reducing resuspension can increase light availability and benthic algae biomass development, while decreasing nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Hui Jin, Casper H. A. van Leeuwen, Ralph J. M. Temmink, Elisabeth S. Bakker
Summary: Wind-induced turbulence can have strong impacts on ecological processes in shallow lake ecosystems, particularly on the interaction between primary producers and herbivores. The creation of shelter against wind can affect the relative resource availabilities for different primary producers, leading to changes in herbivore community composition and trophic transfer efficiency. This study focuses on the effect of wind-induced turbulence on aquatic primary producers and trophic transfer efficiency, and suggests that reducing turbulence may stimulate higher trophic production in shallow lakes.
FRESHWATER BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
F. O. H. Smulders, E. S. Bakker, O. R. O'Shea, J. E. Campbell, O. K. Rhoades, M. J. A. Christianen
Summary: Understanding how herbivores shape the landscape is important and studying how they incorporate habitat features into their foraging behavior is crucial. However, there is limited knowledge about the influence of habitat structure on megaherbivore grazing in marine ecosystems. In this study, we introduced artificial structures at different scales in a seagrass meadow to investigate the response of green turtles. The results showed that the turtles significantly increased in density and mainly grazed and rested in the areas with structures, resulting in changes in seagrass bed structure and heterogeneity at the landscape scale.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Casper H. A. van Leeuwen, Merel B. Soons, Laura G. V. T. I. Vandionant, Andy J. Green, Elisabeth S. Bakker
Summary: Waterbirds disperse plant species through ingestion and egestion of seeds. The survival and germination of seeds are affected by mechanical digestion, seed traits such as size, hardness, imbibition, and shape. Plants growing in aquatic habitats benefit most from endozoochory by waterbirds. This information enhances our understanding of how animal species shape plant species distributions, which is extremely relevant in the face of current anthropogenic pressures.
Article
Entomology
Yu Zhu, Quanhui Ma, Zhiwei Zhong, Ming Jiang, Elisabeth S. Bakker, Jeffrey A. Harvey, G. F. (Ciska) Veen, Cong Chen, Deli Wang
Summary: Global environmental changes can affect plant nutrient status, which in turn has important consequences for insect herbivores that feed on them. The authors studied the effects of nitrogen fertilizers on two sympatric grasshopper species, finding that they exhibited different responses in growth, development, and body size.
ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Ecology
Jeffrey A. Harvey, Kevin Tougeron, Rieta Gols, Robin Heinen, Mariana Abarca, Paul K. Abram, Yves Basset, Matty Berg, Carol Boggs, Jacques Brodeur, Pedro Cardoso, Jetske G. de Boer, Geert R. De Snoo, Charl Deacon, Jane E. Dell, Nicolas Desneux, Michael E. Dillon, Grant A. Duffy, Lee A. Dyer, Jacintha Ellers, Anahi Espindola, James Fordyce, Matthew L. Forister, Caroline Fukushima, Matthew J. G. Gage, Carlos Garcia-Robledo, Claire Gely, Mauro Gobbi, Caspar Hallmann, Thierry Hance, John Harte, Axel Hochkirch, Christian Hof, Ary A. Hoffmann, Joel G. Kingsolver, Greg P. A. Lamarre, William F. Laurance, Blas Lavandero, Simon R. Leather, Philipp Lehmann, Cecile Le Lann, Margarita M. Lopez-Uribe, Chun-Sen Ma, Gang Ma, Joffrey Moiroux, Lucie Monticelli, Chris Nice, Paul J. Ode, Sylvain Pincebourde, William J. Ripple, Melissah Rowe, Michael J. Samways, Arnaud Sentis, Alisha A. Shah, Nigel Stork, John S. Terblanche, Madhav P. Thakur, Matthew B. Thomas, Jason M. Tylianakis, Joan Van Baaren, Martijn Van de Pol, Wim H. Van der Putten, Hans Van Dyck, Wilco C. E. P. Verberk, David L. Wagner, Wolfgang W. Weisser, William C. Wetzel, H. Arthur Woods, Kris A. G. Wyckhuys, Steven L. Chown
Summary: Climate warming is a serious anthropogenic stress on the environment, exacerbating the harmful effects of other threats and potentially threatening species preservation and ecosystem services provided by biodiversity. Insects, as central components of many ecosystems, are highly affected by climate change, with effects on physiology, behavior, distribution, and interactions, as well as extreme events.
ECOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Marjolijn J. A. Christianen, Fee O. H. Smulders, Jan Arie Vonk, Leontine E. Becking, Tjeerd J. Bouma, Sabine M. Engel, Rebecca K. James, Mabel Nava, Jaco C. de Smit, Jurjan P. van der Zee, Per J. Palsboll, Elisabeth S. Bakker
Summary: Changes in megaherbivore populations have a significant impact on ecosystem multifunctionality, with intermediate grazing intensity resulting in the highest rates of nutrient cycling and carbon storage, while intense grazing leads to disproportionate effects on ecosystem functions and a collapse in multifunctionality.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Felix P. Leiva, Jeroen G. J. Boerrigter, Wilco C. E. P. Verberk
Summary: The size of an animal's body is closely related to its key ecological traits, such as fecundity, mortality, and growth. Ectothermic animals mature at smaller body sizes in warmer conditions and low oxygen availability (hypoxia). It is poorly understood whether these responses are due to changes in cell size and cell number, and how these cellular responses help ectotherms cope with heat and hypoxia.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Hui Jin, Dedmer B. Van de Waal, Casper H. A. van Leeuwen, Leon P. M. Lamers, Steven A. J. Declerck, Ana Luisa Amorim, Elisabeth S. Bakker
Summary: Land-water transition areas play a significant role in the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Anthropogenic pressures pose severe threats on these areas, leading to the degradation of ecological integrity in lakes worldwide. Restoring land-water transition areas can enhance habitat complexity, stimulate primary productivity, and ultimately restore higher trophic levels in degraded aquatic ecosystems.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Oswald J. Schmitz, Magnus Sylven, Trisha B. Atwood, Elisabeth S. Bakker, Fabio Berzaghi, Jedediah F. Brodie, Joris P. G. M. Cromsigt, Andrew B. Tilker, Shawn J. Leroux, Frans J. Schepers, Felisa A. Smith, Sari Stark, Jens-Christian Svenning, Andrew B. Tilker, Henni Ylanne
Summary: The authors argue for the importance of including animals in natural climate solutions, as the restoration and conservation of wild animals and their functional roles can enhance natural carbon capture and storage. They believe that this approach can contribute to preventing climate warming beyond 1.5 degrees C. However, they point out that the current understanding undervalues the role animals play in controlling the carbon cycle.
NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Wilco C. E. P. Verberk, K. Natan Hoefnagel, Ignacio Peralta-Maraver, Mathieu Floury, Enrico L. Rezende
Summary: Forecasting long-term consequences of global warming requires considering thermal mortality and how heat stress interacts with other environmental stressors. A flexible analytical framework combining laboratory measurements and field temperature records is described to forecast mortality risks. The framework incorporates physiological acclimation effects, temporal scale differences, and the ecological reality of temperature fluctuations and other factors. The findings indicate a significant increase in annual mortality due to rising summer temperatures, and the effects of thermal acclimation and adequate oxygenation play a crucial role. However, even with the best-case scenario, mortality of certain species is expected to approach 100% by 2100.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Yu Zhu, G. F. (Ciska) Veen, Robin Heinen, Deli Wang, Ming Jiang, Hui Jin, Elisabeth S. S. Bakker
Summary: Large mammalian herbivores play a vital role in terrestrial ecosystems by influencing plants and serving as ecosystem engineers. However, their impacts on arthropod communities and the mechanisms involved are not fully understood.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Casper H. A. van Leeuwen, Joep J. de Leeuw, Olvin A. van Keeken, Joey J. J. Volwater, Ferdi Seljee, Roland van Aalderen, Willie A. M. van Emmerik, Elisabeth S. Bakker
Summary: The construction of islands and deep sand excavations in Lake Markermeer in the Netherlands has attracted omnivorous and piscivorous fish species, providing new habitats for reproduction and nursery. The piscivorous fish species have become permanent residents.
Article
Environmental Sciences
C. H. A. van Leeuwen, J. J. de Leeuw, J. J. J. Volwater, O. A. van Keeken, H. Jin, A. M. Drost, D. Waasdorp, E. Reichman, L. Ursem, E. S. Bakker
Summary: Current rates of habitat loss require science-based predictions on how to restore or newly create lost habitat types. In aquatic ecosystems, littoral zones are key habitats for food web functioning, but they are often replaced by unnatural steep shorelines for water safety. To reverse this trend, knowledge is needed on how to successfully (re)create littoral zones. We quantified the response of an aquatic food web to the large-scale creation of new heterogeneous littoral habitats in shallow lake Markermeer, the Netherlands.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
