Article
Environmental Sciences
Andraz Dolar, Damjana Drobne, Matej Dolenec, Marjan Marinsek, Anita Jemec Kokalj
Summary: This study examines the immune response of the terrestrial crustacean Porcellio scaber to different types of microplastics and natural particles. The results reveal dynamic changes in immune parameters after exposure to microplastics, with a gradual return to control values. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that immune parameters can serve as sensitive biomarkers of exposure to microplastics. The importance of using natural particles in microplastics studies and their effects is also discussed.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Craig Mayall, Andraz Dolar, Anita Jemec Kokalj, Sara Novak, Jaka Razinger, Francesco Barbero, Victor Puntes, Damjana Drobne
Summary: The study compared the immune responses of Porcellio scaber to different stressors, showing that both feeding and injection of nanoparticles (NPs) caused immune responses, but the type of stressor significantly impacted the response.
Article
Zoology
Primoz Zidar, Ziga Fiser
Summary: The study evaluated the influence of gregariousness on the behavior of woodlice in a polluted environment and found that aggregation behavior suppresses exploratory behavior and avoidance of polluted environments.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Anita Jemec Kokalj, Adrijana Leonardi, Valentina Perc, Andraz Dolar, Damjana Drobne, Igor Krizaj
Summary: In this study, the haemolymph proteome of the terrestrial crustacean Porcellio scaber was analyzed using a classical proteomic approach. A total of 76 proteins involved in various biological processes were identified, including cytoskeleton formation, protein degradation, vesicular transport, etc. Among them, 28 proteins were found to be linked to the immunity of P. scaber, providing a solid foundation for studying its innate immune response.
Article
Polymer Science
Anita Jemec Kokalj, Andraz Dolar, Jelizaveta Titova, Meeri Visnapuu, Luka Skrlep, Damjana Drobne, Heiki Vija, Vambola Kisand, Margit Heinlaan
Summary: The study found that there were no adverse effects related to MP exposure for D. magna, except for very low inconsistent offspring mortality at 10 mg/L and 100 mg/L of recycled LDPE. For P. scaber, increased feeding on non-contaminated leaves was observed for virgin LDPE at 5 g/kg and 15 g/kg. In addition, both LDPE induced a slight immune response at 5 g/kg and 15 g/kg with more parameters altered for virgin LDPE.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tomonori Tsuyama, Yoshifumi Sato, Tatsuya Yoshizawa, Takaaki Matsuoka, Kazuya Yamagata
Summary: Hypoxia-induced transcriptional repressor BHLHE40 suppresses insulin secretion by inhibiting the expression of MAFA in beta-cells.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tehila Dahan, Shahd Nassar, Olga Yajuk, Eliana Steinberg, Ofra Benny, Nathalie Abudi, Inbar Plaschkes, Hadar Benyamini, David Gozal, Rinat Abramovitch, Alex Gileles-Hillel
Summary: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disease associated with dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is believed to affect systemic glucose tolerance through adaptive thermogenesis, while chronic hypoxia affects the function and metabolism of BAT. This study shows that chronic hypoxia leads to browning of BAT, but also tissue-specific and systemic insulin resistance.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Yan Zhou, Yanjie Zhang, Shang Wei, Wei Li, Wenhao Li, Zhichao Wu, Shouwen Jiang, Ying Lu, Qianghua Xu, Liangbiao Chen
Summary: This study found that long-term exposure to high temperatures has detrimental effects on the survival and metabolism of Nile tilapia. Fish reared at 36 degrees C showed significantly reduced survival rates and tolerance to hypoxia, as well as increased respiratory rates. After 15 weeks at 36 degrees C, a partial temperature compensation for routine metabolic rates was observed.
Article
Geriatrics & Gerontology
Amy Fuller, Nduka Okwose, Jadine Scragg, Christopher Eggett, Peter Luke, Alykhan Bandali, Radmila Velicki, Laura Greaves, Guy A. MacGowan, Djordje G. Jakovljevic
Summary: This prospective observational study divided participants into two groups based on age, younger and older. The results showed that the older group had significantly lower peak oxygen consumption compared to the younger group, but there were no significant differences in peak exercise cardiac output and cardiac index between the two age groups. Despite having a lower peak heart rate, older participants demonstrated higher stroke volume and stroke volume index compared to the younger group.
EXPERIMENTAL GERONTOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Darren McPhee, Jabin R. Watson, Doug J. Harding, Andrea Prior, James H. Fawcett, Craig E. Franklin, Rebecca L. Cramp
Summary: Increasing drought frequency and duration pose a significant threat to fish species in dryland river systems. This study found that body size significantly affects the thermal and hypoxia tolerances of fish, with smaller fish being less hypoxia tolerant and larger fish being less thermal tolerant. The results suggest that both very small and very large fish in dryland rivers are at significant risk from the combined impacts of a warming and drying climate and water extraction.
CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Anna Maria Labecka, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: In this study, we investigated the offspring production and growth patterns of the Asian mussel Sinanodonta woodiana in the thermal plume of the Odra River in Central Europe. We found that compared to males, females had more convex shells and tended to continue growth post-maturation, with offspring production and size linked to seasonality and gonadal activity. The study also revealed that females with higher levels of nutritive substances in their ovaries produced more and larger offspring, with distinct sizes of offspring observed in different seasons.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Michal Filipiak, Michal Woyciechowski, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: This study showed that different sexes of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis have distinct patterns of resource assimilation, allocation, and excretion. Sexual dimorphism in nutritional limitations due to nutrient scarcity during the larval stage may influence bee population function and should be considered in conservation efforts.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Karolina Kuszewska, Wiktoria Rojek
Summary: The study found that honeybee workers with high reproductive potential (rebels) had stronger learning abilities and were positively correlated with their reproductive potential, indicating no trade-off between learning and reproduction in honeybees.
Article
Entomology
Andrzej Anto, Matty P. Berg, Wilco C. E. P. Verberk
Summary: The study suggests that terrestrial isopods have evolved a trade-off between water retention and gas exchange, influenced by species differences and body size effects. By comparing Porcellio scaber and Oniscus asellus, it was found that species identity and body size significantly affect tolerance to hypoxia and low humidity.
JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Bartosz W. Schramm, Anna Maria Labecka, Agnieszka Gudowska, Andrzej Anto, Anna Sikorska, Natalia Szabla, Ulf Bauchinger, Jan Kozlowski, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: This study compared body mass, resting metabolic rate, and cell size in different tissues of males and females of 19 Carabidae beetle species using phylogenetically informed comparisons. It was found that larger species or larger sexes consistently possessed larger cells in different tissues, which indicated coordination of cell size changes, and these changes contributed to evolutionary and sex differences in body mass. Additionally, beetles with larger cells exhibited lower mass-specific metabolic rates, supporting existing hypotheses about the fitness consequences of cell size changes.
JOURNAL OF INSECT PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Andrzej Antol, Szymon Sniegula
Summary: This study found that eggs of damselflies respond differently to cues from invasive alien predators, possibly influenced by natural predation behavior of prey and the stress of unfamiliar cues. The results suggest that the differential responses of prey eggs to various predator cues during the egg stage may have important implications for how insect populations respond to biological invasions.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Entomology
W. Rojek, K. Kuszewska
Summary: In eusocial Hymenoptera, worker honeybees laying male-determined eggs in unrelated colonies can be a powerful strategy for increasing direct fitness benefits. Honeybee rebels, developed under queenless conditions, display reproductive potential and act as reproductive parasites by drifting to foreign colonies. Rebels, unlike normal workers, show a tendency to activate their ovaries and develop a reproductive phenotype when introduced into queenright colonies as opposed to 1-day-old workers. This suggests that workers' reproductive potential is a key parameter in activating ovaries for both drifting workers and reproductive parasites, supporting the hypothesis that colony recognition cues have environmental origins.
Article
Ecology
Maria J. Golab, Szymon Sniegula, Andrzej Antol, Tomas Brodin
Summary: Animal personality research has gained increasing attention in ecological studies in the past two decades, with some areas still requiring further development and more studies involving a wider variety of traits and species. This study on damselflies found that traits related to courtship and boldness were repeatable across different contexts, while only one aggressive behavior trait showed repeatability. The presence of within-population personality differences in adult damselflies in the wild was demonstrated for the first time, suggesting Calopteryx splendens as a promising model species for testing personality under controlled conditions.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Demetra Rakosy, Elena Motivans, Valentin Stefan, Arkadiusz Nowak, Sebastian Swierszcz, Reinart Feldmann, Elisabeth Kuehn, Costanza Geppert, Neeraja Venkataraman, Anna Sobieraj-Betlinska, Anita Grossmann, Wiktoria Rojek, Katarzyna Pochrzast, Magdalena Cielniak, Anika Kirstin Gathof, Kevin Baumann, Tiffany Marie Knight
Summary: Complex socio-economic, political and demographic factors have led to the conversion of Europe's semi-natural grasslands to intensive pastures, causing a decrease in species diversity and alteration of plant and insect communities. In traditional hay meadows and intensive pastures in Central Europe, intensive grazing has been found to result in lower taxonomic and functional diversity of plants and insects, as well as significant compositional differences between grassland management types.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Andrzej Antol, Anna Maria Labecka, J. I. Ronny Larsson, Szymon Sniegula
Summary: A microsporidian infection was reported for the first time in laboratory-reared larvae of the damselfly Ischnura elegans, with distorted wing development and mortality observed in infected individuals. Factors such as higher rearing temperatures and predator cues from invasive alien signal crayfish may contribute to increased infection rates and negative fitness consequences.
Article
Entomology
Wiktoria Rojek, Karolina Kuszewska, Hajnalka Szentgyorgyi, Michal Woyciechowski
Summary: This study compared the asymmetry between honeybee workers reared without a queen and those reared with a queen. The results showed that the two groups of workers differed in the expression of asymmetry in different organs, and this difference was attributed to resource allocation. Furthermore, no evidence of directional asymmetry was found in the studied traits in worker honeybees.
Article
Entomology
Dariusz Malek, Maciej J. Danko, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: Temperature and humidity play a role in seed viability and development rates, but their impact on seed pest reproduction is not well-studied. In this study, we examined the production and longevity of ejaculates in male bean beetles at different temperatures and mating patterns. Warmer conditions increased mortality and development rates, and led to decreased body mass. Male body mass and ejaculate production were not affected by thermal conditions. Ejaculate transfer resulted in increased male mortality, with a greater impact than routine body mass loss.
JOURNAL OF STORED PRODUCTS RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Valeriya Privalova, Anna Maria Labecka, Ewa Szlachcic, Anna Sikorska, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: Organisms have evolved different cellular composition differences with different life strategies. Understanding the molecular basis and fitness effects of these differences is crucial for understanding the fundamental characteristics of life. TOR/insulin pathways play a key role in regulating cell size, but whether their activity determines cell size in a systemic or tissue-specific manner is still unknown. In this study, cells in four tissues of genetically modified Drosophila melanogaster were measured to investigate the effects of mutations in TOR/insulin pathways on cell size. The results showed that mutations in these pathways led to alterations in cell size in specific tissues, suggesting that cell cycle control pathways drive the evolution of systemic changes in cell size, while additional mechanisms shape the cellular composition of some tissues independent of these mutations.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ewa Szlachcic, Maciej J. Danko, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: There is a connection between cell size and ageing patterns and mortality rates, with organisms having smaller cells requiring more resources for plasma membrane maintenance, leading to accelerated intrinsic mortality. By rearing fruit flies with small and large cells through the use of rapamycin, it was found that small-celled flies had higher mortality rates in early adulthood.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Ewa Szlachcic, Anna Maria Labecka, Valeriya Privalova, Anna Sikorska, Marcin Czarnoleski
Summary: In addition to differences in life histories, metazoans have also developed varying cellularities, which involve changes in the control of the cell cycle. The extent to which the signaling network affects cell composition and whether tissue cellularity matches tissue-specific functions remain unclear. By manipulating the activity of the target of rapamycin (TOR)/insulin pathways, researchers found that rapamycin-treated fruit flies had smaller bodies and consistently smaller cells in all tissues. The activity of TOR/insulin pathways and their effects on cellularity should be taken into consideration when studying ecological and evolutionary patterns in life histories.