Article
Ecology
Jeremy Hemberger, Michael S. Crossley, Claudio Gratton
Summary: Agricultural intensification may lead to declines in bumble bee species, while high crop diversity is beneficial for insect conservation. Increasing on-farm and landscape-level crop diversity is predicted to have positive effects on bumble bees, even in agriculturally dominated areas.
Article
Plant Sciences
Kathleen R. Balazs, Seth M. Munson, Caroline A. Havrilla, Bradley J. Butterfield
Summary: The match between species trait values and local abiotic filters can limit community membership. This study found that opportunistic strategies allowing for rapid water acquisition improved survival at warmer sites. Contrary to expectations, directional selection was primarily found in warm species pools, while disruptive selection was more common in cool and intermediate species pools.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wangkai Fang, Tingyu Fan, Shun Wang, Xiaokun Yu, Akang Lu, Xingming Wang, Weimin Zhou, Hongjun Yuan, Lei Zhang
Summary: This study investigated the characteristics and assembly mechanisms of microbial communities in urban rivers in different seasons. It found that microbial communities exhibited significant temporal heterogeneity and decreased diversity as the seasons changed. The assembly of microbial communities was influenced by dispersal limitation, drift, and homogeneous selection in different seasons. Moreover, certain microbial functions were affected by dispersal limitation and drift, while others were controlled by dispersal limitation and homogeneous selection. The complexity and stability of microbial networks also varied with the seasons. Temperature was identified as the primary driver of microbial community structure and assembly in different seasons. Overall, this study provides new insights into the dynamics of microbial community assembly and species coexistence patterns in urban rivers under seasonal change conditions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohsen Bahrami, Hasan Alp Boz, Yoshihiko Suhara, Selim Balcisoy, Burcin Bozkaya, Alex Pentland
Summary: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are important for job creation and economic growth in most economies. To assess their performance for business loans, financial institutions and investors often require access to internal information that cannot be shared due to privacy concerns. In this study, we propose a novel approach that uses credit card transaction data to predict SMEs' future performance. By constructing a merchant network and extracting features from it, we achieve comparable predictive performance while maintaining higher privacy levels. Our approach enables safe data-sharing among financial institutions and investors, facilitating informed decision-making and ensuring confidentiality of sensitive merchant information.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Teng Long, Junfeng Tang, Nicholas Pilfold, Xuzhe Zhao, Tingfa Dong
Summary: Understanding and predicting the impact of future climate change on the rare and endangered plant species Davidia involucrate in China is crucial for biodiversity conservation. Using ensemble species distribution models, the study found that the species is very vulnerable to future climate change, with at least one-third of its suitable range expected to be lost in all future climate change scenarios and shift to high-latitude regions to the north.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Olivia K. Bates, Cleo Bertelsmeier
Summary: Studies on niche conservatism assumptions in predicting biological invasions have shown contradictory results, revealing uncertainties in the frequency of niche shifts, potential biases towards conservatism, and the need for a new focus on trends or relative degrees of niche change. Additional experimental studies and computational analyses are recommended to address the mechanisms of niche shifts.
Article
Ecology
Debanjan Sarkar, Gautam Talukdar
Summary: Climate change poses a major threat to biodiversity by impacting species distribution. Hornbills, large tropical birds in Asia and Africa, play a crucial role in maintaining ecological community structure through seed dispersal and are considered keystone species. This study models the current and future climatic niches of Indian hornbills, predicting significant shifts and loss of suitable habitats under different climate scenarios.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Devendra Kumar, Aseesh Pandey, Sandeep Rawat, Mayank Joshi, Rajesh Bajpai, Dalip Kumar Upreti, Surendra Pratap Singh
Summary: The study used MaxEnt modeling to predict the suitable habitat for map lichen under future climate change scenarios, indicating a shift of highly suitable areas towards the Eastern Himalaya at higher elevations, with a trend of expanding towards higher elevations in the future. However, this expansion may lead to a loss of habitat in some areas for the species.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ziyue Yang, Maghesree Chakraborty, Andrew D. White
Summary: The study utilizes graph neural networks (GNNs) for NMR chemical shift prediction, accurately capturing important chemical shift phenomena such as hydrogen bonding-induced downfield shift and shifts of organic molecules. These GNN models do not require feature engineering, only data training, yet are as accurate as previous empirical protein NMR models.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Floris M. van Beest, Larissa T. Beumer, Asbjorn S. Andersen, Sophia Hansson, Niels M. Schmidt
Summary: The study found that Arctic birds and mammals are projected to shift their distribution ranges northward and upwards under future climate conditions, with potential increases in inter-specific overlap. This indicates that climate change is significantly impacting the Arctic region.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Leila Jafari, Sara Asadi, Ashkan Asgari
Summary: The study reveals that the Iranian agricultural system relies heavily on wheat and barley, but monoculture poses risks to stability and production. The increase in the area of certain crops in recent years has led to an increase in species richness, but there is no significant trend in total cultivated land.
Article
Ecology
Xiaoan Zuo, Xiangyun Li, Ping Yue, Aixia Guo, Xiyuan Yue, Chong Xu, Alan K. Knapp, Melinda D. Smith, Wentao Luo, Ginger R. H. Allington, Qiang Yu
Summary: Drought induced by global climate change has significant effects on grassland ecosystem structure and function. Plant biodiversity can enhance ecosystem resilience to drought, but the potential effects of drought on the relationships between above-ground productivity and biodiversity are not well understood. This study examined the effects of experimental drought on plant community structure and productivity in three temperate steppe sites with different aridity levels. The results showed that drought shaped the biodiversity-productivity relationships, and these relationships varied among sites with different aridity levels.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Mathematics
Bernat Bassols, Ernest Fontich, Daniel Oro, David Alonso, Josep Sardanyes
Summary: Research on hypercycles explores cooperative interactions among replicating species, such as the emergence of catalytic parasites and functional shifts from cooperation to antagonistic interactions. The study involves modeling a two-member hypercycle system with different dynamic scenarios, showing that predation does not alter dynamics significantly. These findings have implications for early replicators and ecological species dynamics.
Article
Ecology
Zhenjun Liu, Xuzhe Zhao, Wei Wei, Mingsheng Hong, Hong Zhou, Junfeng Tang, Zejun Zhang
Summary: Understanding and predicting the response of species to global environmental change is crucial for conservation and management strategies. This study assessed the combined effect of future climate and land use change on the potential range shifts of giant pandas in Sichuan Province, China. The findings highlight the importance of considering climate and land use change together to predict future species distribution and guide conservation efforts.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Yixin Diao, Qianqian Zhao, Yue Weng, Zixin Huang, Yiqian Wu, Bojian Gu, Qing Zhao, Fang Wang
Summary: Rapid urbanization has led to significant changes in urban ecosystems. In this study, we used species distribution modeling to analyze the distribution patterns of raccoon dogs in Shanghai. We identified factors associated with their habitat selection and predicted their current and future ranges. Our findings indicated a high potential for raccoon dog expansion, which has been overlooked in previous management plans. We proposed strategies to mitigate human-raccoon dog conflicts and recommended adaptive management for fast response and flexible solutions.
LANDSCAPE AND URBAN PLANNING
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Fernando Pulido, Bastien Castagneyrol, Francisco Rodriguez-Sanchez, Yonatan Caceres, Adara Pardo, Eva Moracho, Johannes Kollmann, Fernando Valladares, Johan Ehrlen, Alistair S. Jump, Jens-Christian Svenning, Arndt Hampe
Summary: By conducting a meta-analysis on global populations of plants and animals, it was found that marginal populations perform significantly worse than central populations, especially those at low latitudes. This performance difference is likely to be influenced by global climate change, and changes in demographic rates of marginal populations can serve as early-warning signals for range shifts.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Rasmus Ostergaard Pedersen, Soren Faurby, Jens-Christian Svenning
Summary: If human-linked extinctions and extirpations had not occurred, the effects of herbivorous mammals in natural ecosystems would have been much stronger. Our study estimates that wild mammals currently consume a median of 11% of net primary productivity (NPP) in natural areas, which would have been 21% without extinctions and extirpations. These findings highlight the significant impact of species losses on ecosystem structure and functioning.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Charles W. Davison, Jakob J. Assmann, Signe Normand, Carsten Rahbek, Naia Morueta-Holme
Summary: Classic ecological research highlighted the important role of 3D vegetation heterogeneity in determining biodiversity patterns. However, measuring vegetation structure across large areas has always been challenging. With the availability of new 3D vegetation data, we investigated the importance of habitat and vegetation heterogeneity in explaining bird species richness and composition patterns across Denmark.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Julia H. Heinen, F. B. Vincent Florens, Claudia Baider, Julian P. Hume, W. Daniel Kissling, Robert J. Whittaker, Carsten Rahbek, Michael K. Borregaard
Summary: Insular communities are highly susceptible to human-induced extinctions and introductions, which can affect seed dispersal and lead to ecological shifts and co-extinction cascades. In a study conducted in Mauritius, an oceanic island with a well-studied history of species introduction, researchers found that while there were losses of interaction partnerships due to native species extinctions, there were also gains of interactions with introduced species. However, closer examination revealed that these interactions were predominantly with seed predators, indicating that restoration of seed dispersal functionality in this novel plant-frugivore community is unlikely.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yunpeng Liu, Xiaoting Xu, Dimitar Dimitrov, Loic Pellissier, Michael K. Borregaard, Nawal Shrestha, Xiangyan Su, Ao Luo, Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Carsten Rahbek, Zhiheng Wang
Summary: By integrating global distributions and a phylogeny of 12,664 angiosperm genera, the study updates global floristic regions and explores their temporal changes. Most floristic realms have formed since the Paleogene, primarily due to geographic isolation induced by plate tectonics.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Diederik Strubbe, Laura Jimenez, A. Marcia Barbosa, Amy J. S. Davis, Luc Lens, Carsten Rahbek
Summary: This study demonstrates that mechanistic models based on functional traits can accurately identify areas at risk of invasion by non-native birds in Europe. Predicting potential invasive distribution ranges has significant uncertainties, but using ecophysiological mechanistic models can determine the true extent of the geographical area at risk. Mechanistic predictions, which can identify tolerable climates outside of species' current niches, are valuable for informing policy and management strategies to prevent the escalating impacts of invasive species.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Arthur Ramalho Magalhaes, Claudia Torres Codeco, Jens-Christian Svenning, Luis E. Escobar, Paige Van de Vuurst, Thiago Goncalves-Souza
Summary: This study examined the role of socioeconomic variables in predicting neglected tropical zoonoses in Brazil and found that socioeconomic factors are as important as environmental factors in influencing disease transmission risk. The results highlight the importance of poverty and natural ecosystem destruction in the transmission of tropical diseases.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF POVERTY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Wu-Bing Xu, Wen-Yong Guo, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Franziska Schrodt, Wolf L. Eiserhardt, Brian J. Enquist, Brian S. Maitner, Cory Merow, Cyrille Violle, Madhur Anand, Michael Belluau, Hans Henrik Bruun, Chaeho Byun, Jane A. Catford, Bruno E. L. Cerabolini, Eduardo Chacon-Madrigal, Daniela Ciccarelli, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Anh Tuan Dang-Le, Angel de Frutos, Arildo S. Dias, Aelton B. Giroldo, Alvaro G. Gutierrez, Wesley Hattingh, Tianhua He, Peter Hietz, Nate Hough-Snee, Steven Jansen, Jens Kattge, Benjamin Komac, Nathan J. B. Kraft, Koen Kramer, Sandra Lavorel, Christopher H. Lusk, Adam R. Martin, Ke-Ping Ma, Maurizio Mencuccini, Sean T. Michaletz, Vanessa Minden, Akira S. Mori, Uelo Niinemets, Yusuke Onoda, Renske E. Onstein, Josep Penuelas, Valerio D. Pillar, Jan Pisek, Matthew J. Pound, Bjorn J. M. Robroek, Brandon Schamp, Martijn Slot, Miao Sun, Enio E. Sosinski Jr, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Nelson Thiffault, Peter M. van Bodegom, Fons van der Plas, Jingming Zheng, Jens-Christian Svenning, Alejandro Ordonez
Summary: Studying the impacts of past climate change on biodiversity helps to understand the risks from future climate change. This study found that larger glacial-interglacial temperature change was associated with lower species replacements and higher richness changes in beta-diversity. Furthermore, regions with large temperature change showed lower phylogenetic and functional turnover and higher nestedness than expected, indicating selective processes during glacial-interglacial oscillations. These findings suggest that future human-driven climate change could lead to local homogenization and reduction in angiosperm tree diversity.
Review
Ecology
Kerry A. A. Brown, M. Jane Bunting, Fabio Carvalho, Francesco de Bello, Luke Mander, Katarzyna Marcisz, Ondrej Mottl, Triin Reitalu, Jens-Christian Svenning
Summary: Research has shown that quantifying spatial variation in ecosystem properties is effective for investigating the effects of environmental change, but there is a need for better understanding of temporal variation. Trait-based approaches can be used to reconstruct long-term variation in ecosystems, but there are challenges in translating palaeoecological datasets into functional traits. Despite these challenges, palaeo-trait research offers insights into ecosystem functioning and environmental change across time and can improve understanding of present-day and future ecosystem management.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ask Lykke Herrik, Niels Mogensen, Jens-Christian Svenning, Robert Buitenwerf
Summary: African wildlife populations are declining rapidly, and more areas for wildlife are needed to stop further declines and restore ecosystems. Community-based conservation with wildlife-livestock coexistence in African rangelands presents a major opportunity, but the efficacy of conservation efforts in mixed land-use areas is still uncertain.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Pablo Sanchez-Martinez, Maurizio Mencuccini, Raul Garcia-Valdes, William M. Hammond, Josep M. Serra-Diaz, Wen-Yong Guo, Ricardo A. Segovia, Kyle G. Dexter, Jens-Christian Svenning, Craig Allen, Jordi Martinez-Vilalta
Summary: This study integrates information on the edaphoclimatic niches, phylogeny, and hydraulic traits of woody plants to model the hydraulic risk globally. It finds that local assemblages with higher hydraulic risk have a higher probability of mortality. The methodology presented in this study improves our ability to predict potential global change impacts on vegetation by mapping functional trait distributions and elucidating global macro-evolutionary and biogeographical patterns.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Ninad Avinash Mungi, Yadvendradev V. Jhala, Qamar Qureshi, Elizabeth le Roux, Jens-Christian Svenning
Summary: This study explores the potential of megaherbivores to control plant invasions, finding that they can facilitate the growth of native plants and reduce the abundance of alien plants. This relationship is strongest in protected areas but is lost in areas dominated by thicket-forming alien plants.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Studies
Celina Aznarez, Jens-Christian Svenning, Juan Pablo Pacheco, Frederik Have Kallesoe, Francesc Baro, Unai Pascual
Summary: Socio-economic and historical drivers shape urban nature distribution and characteristics, with luxury and legacy effects playing a role. Higher educational attainment positively correlated with urban biodiversity, confirming the luxury effect. Older areas had higher vegetation cover and ecosystem services (ES), evidencing a legacy effect with an inverse response on biodiversity. Habitat quality amplified the luxury effect, while population density strengthened the legacy effect.
NPJ URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Christoffer Bonavent, Kent Olsen, Rasmus Ejrnaes, Camilla Flojgaard, Morten D. D. Hansen, Signe Normand, Jens-Christian Svenning, Hans Henrik Bruun
Summary: How does naturalistic grazing affect plant community composition and species richness in temperate grassland grazed by semi-feral cattle and horses? An experiment conducted in Denmark showed that grazing treatments resulted in higher plant species richness compared to mowing and full exclosure. The study also found that forbs were more prevalent under grazing, which could benefit floral resources for insects.
APPLIED VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Fisheries
Anastasiia Zymaroieva, Dmytro Bondarev, Olga Kunakh, Jens-Christian Svenning, Oleksandr Zhukov
Summary: The study aimed to identify fish traits that were positively related to eutrophication and ongoing warming in the Dnipro River channel and floodplain water system. The results showed that phytophilic, limnophilic, and freshwater fish species are increasing in abundance, while rheophilic and lithophilic fish are decreasing due to global warming. Fish species with greater vulnerability and resilience have selective advantages in terms of global warming and brackish-water demersal self-settled species of marine origin dominate in the face of increasing eutrophication and a warming climate.
