Article
Environmental Sciences
G. Christopher Cutler, Marcel Amichot, Giovanni Benelli, Raul Narciso C. Guedes, Yanyan Qu, Rachel R. Rix, Farman Ullah, Nicolas Desneux
Summary: Insects in agroecosystems face various stressors at low levels, and exposure to mild stress has been found to induce hormetic effects in insects. This review explores the ecological niches of insects in agroecosystems and how hormesis can manifest within and across different insect groups. The mechanistic explanations for hormesis in insects are starting to emerge, but there is a lack of field-based research on this topic. The review also emphasizes the importance of studying the effects of hormesis on species interactions and community structure and functioning, with a focus on understudied guilds such as insect natural enemies, pollinators, and detritivores.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biology
Panagiotis Theodorou
Summary: Urbanisation poses a global threat to biodiversity, but the ecological impacts of urbanisation on species interactions are not well understood. This review explores the mechanisms through which urban environmental processes may alter antagonistic and mutualistic interactions among species, focusing on insect predation, parasitoidism, herbivory, competition, host-pathogen interactions, and pollination. It highlights the importance of further research in understanding these impacts and suggests future research directions to aid conservation management in cities.
CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lyuben Zagorchev, Wolfgang Stoeggl, Denitsa Teofanova, Junmin Li, Ilse Kranner
Summary: Parasitic angiosperms are diverse flowering plants that rely on their hosts for nutrients and water. They pose additional pressure on agriculture in times of climate change, but little is known about how abiotic stress affects host preferences and defense mechanisms against these parasitic plants. Further research is needed to understand the interactions between abiotic stress, host-parasite relationships, and their implications on agriculture.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biology
Jake M. Alexander, Daniel Z. Atwater, Robert Colautti, Anna L. Hargreaves
Summary: Species' ranges are constrained by ecological and evolutionary factors. The role of biotic interactions in shaping adaptation and range limits is not well understood. This study investigates how biotic interactions influence adaptation and proposes a model to illustrate the potential for range expansion and niche evolution.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Edwin Lebrija-Trejos, Andres Hernandez, S. Joseph Wright
Summary: Tropical tree diversity increases with rainfall, potentially due to direct physiological effects of moisture availability and indirect effects mediated by biotic interactions. This study in central Panama evaluated the relationships between interannual variation in moisture availability, density-dependent interactions, and seedling diversity. It found that diversity increased with soil moisture, and this effect persisted for at least 15 years. Negative density-dependent interactions among conspecifics in wetter years contributed to the observed increase in diversity, suggesting an indirect enhancement of diversity through moisture-sensitive interactions. Pathogens and phytophagous insects, many of which are moisture-sensitive, mediate seedling interactions in tropical forests, and changes in moisture availability may impact these interactions and tree diversity.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ben Langford, James M. W. Ryalls, Neil J. Mullinger, Paul Hayden, Eiko Nemitz, Christian Pfrang, Alan Robins, Dalila Touhami, Lisa M. Bromfield, Robbie D. Girling
Summary: Animal-mediated pollination is facilitated by odour cues, but ozone pollution and turbulent mixing can affect the degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), thus impairing the ability of pollinators to locate flowers. Experimental results show that the degradation rates of VOCs vary within an odour plume, with the fastest rates at the plume edges and the slowest rates at the plume centers where VOCs and ozone mix most efficiently. Moreover, our findings suggest that anthropogenic pollutants can disrupt the VOC cues used in plant-pollinator interactions, which may also impact on other critical odour-mediated behaviors such as mate attraction.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Entomology
Camille Meslin, Francoise Bozzolan, Virginie Braman, Solenne Chardonnet, Cedric Pionneau, Marie-Christine Francois, Dany Severac, Christophe Gadenne, Sylvia Anton, Martine Maibeche, Emmanuelle Jacquin-Joly, David Siaussat
Summary: Insect pest management heavily relies on neurotoxic insecticides, with low doses of neonicotinoids like clothianidin potentially enhancing various life traits in target pests. Residual accumulation of these insecticides may modify chemical communication through neuronal and behavioral responses. High-throughput RNAseq and proteomic analyses revealed that exposure to clothianidin induced significant changes in gene and protein expression in moth brains, potentially leading to enhanced responses to environmental stressors.
Review
Plant Sciences
Daniel A. Bastias, Raffaella Balestrini, Stephan Pollmann, Pedro E. Gundel
Summary: This review discusses how environmental stresses can affect plant-microbe interactions, suggesting that beneficial microbes may have mechanisms to maintain mutualistic associations with plants in stress situations, such as producing effector proteins and increasing antioxidant levels to counteract the detrimental effects of plant stress responses.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jolanta Rieksta, Tao Li, Anders Michelsen, Riikka Rinnan
Summary: The study found that climate change increases insect abundance in Arctic ecosystems, leading to increased emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from plants, which play a crucial role in atmospheric chemistry and physics. Experimental manipulations of temperature and light availability in a subarctic tundra revealed that insect herbivory and climate change interact to stimulate VOC emissions from dwarf birch, with potential positive feedbacks on cloud formation. Acclimation of plants to long-term climate treatments complicates predictions on how climate change and interacting biotic stresses affect VOC emissions in high latitudes.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Plant Sciences
Li-Long Pan, Huiying Miao, Qiaomei Wang, Linda L. Walling, Shu-Sheng Liu
Summary: Viruses can modulate plant-insect interactions through plant hormone pathways, affecting the fitness and viral transmission capacity of insect vectors. Virus infection may also influence other plant traits, potentially altering plant-insect interactions.
Article
Parasitology
Nauman Sadiq, Muhammad Nadir Naqqash, Muhammad Zaryab Khan, Shafqat Saeed, Naeem Iqbal
Summary: In this study, the transgenerational effects of sublethal doses of diafenthiuron on houseflies were investigated. It was found that the treatment with different doses of diafenthiuron resulted in significant changes in pre-adult duration and adult longevity of the progeny. The population growth parameters were also reduced in the progeny of the treated adults. These findings suggest that diafenthiuron can be an effective insecticide even at lower doses.
EXPERIMENTAL PARASITOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rebecca Greatorex, Antony M. Knights
Summary: Independently, ocean warming and acidification are two major threats to marine organisms, and their interaction has wide-ranging consequences to biological functioning, population and community structure, species interactions, and ecosystem service provision. A multitrophic experiment showed that future ocean acidification and warming had negative consequences on the growth, feeding, and metabolic rate of blue mussels, but had no effect on the predator's growth and metabolism, and even increased its feeding. This differential response between the two species to ocean acidification and warming could lead to fundamental changes in ecosystem structure and functioning.
MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Jia-Yun Zou, Marc W. Cadotte, Claus Baessler, Roland Brandl, Petr Baldrian, Werner Borken, Elisa Stengel, Ya-Huang Luo, Joerg Mueller, Sebastian Seibold
Summary: This study found that both species richness and functional diversity of beetles have significant effects on wood decomposition rate, with functional diversity being linked to beetle biomass and the presence of a large-bodied species. Additionally, beetles have indirect effects on wood decomposition via bacterial diversity, fungal community composition, and fungal biomass.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Natasha Garner, Pauline M. Ross, Laura J. Falkenberg, Justin R. Seymour, Nachshon Siboni, Elliot Scanes
Summary: Seagrass may not be a panacea for mitigating the negative impacts of ocean acidification on oysters, but it can benefit oyster growth.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Pramod Kumar Sahu, K. Jayalakshmi, Jyotsana Tilgam, Amrita Gupta, Yalavarthi Nagaraju, Adarsh Kumar, Saima Hamid, Harsh Vardhan Singh, Tatiana Minkina, Vishnu D. Rajput, Mahendra Vikram Singh Rajawat
Summary: Aerobic living generates ROS which play important roles in plant response to pathogenic stress. ROS act as signaling molecules at moderate concentrations to suppress pathogens, but excess ROS is detrimental to plants. Plants and endophytic microbes have mechanisms to maintain ROS homeostasis, with endophytes producing antioxidants and inducing plant machinery to scavenge ROS.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Michael R. Kearney, Marko Jusup, Melodie A. McGeoch, Sebastiaan A. L. M. Kooijman, Steven L. Chown
Summary: The use of functional traits in ecology and biodiversity informatics has been growing, with a focus on traits linked to individual survival, development, growth, and reproduction. Theoretical frameworks help in defining functional traits and prioritizing their collection, leading to the maximization of generality, quality, and consistency of trait databases for comparative analyses across various organizational scales.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Craig R. White, Dustin J. Marshall, Steven L. Chown, Susana Clusella-Trullas, Steven J. Portugal, Craig E. Franklin, Frank Seebacher
Summary: Climate change impacts all aspects of biology, causing organisms to adapt or face extinction. However, our ability to predict organismal responses is limited by geographical biases in existing datasets, which do not cover the wide range of climates that terrestrial animals will need to operate in.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mario Mairal, Steven L. Chown, Justine Shaw, Desalegn Chala, John H. Chau, Cang Hui, Jesse M. Kalwij, Zuzana Munzbergova, Bettine Jansen van Vuuren, Johannes J. Le Roux
Summary: The study reveals that human activity significantly impacts the post-introduction dynamics of invasive species, leading to high genetic diversity and admixture of P. annua on Marion Island, while populations on unoccupied Prince Edward Island show low genetic diversity and structure. High genetic variation and admixture facilitated by human activity, coupled with high habitat suitability, suggest that P. annua is likely to increase its distribution and abundance in the future.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Laura M. Phillips, Rachel Leihy, Steven L. Chown
Summary: This study focuses on the type locality criterion for area protection in Antarctica and reveals the inadequacy of the current protected areas network. By analyzing a comprehensive database of type localities, the study identifies numerous unprotected areas that should be considered for future conservation efforts. The authors propose alternative approaches to deploy the type locality criterion, such as systematic conservation planning and emphasis on species habitat.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Marie Henriksen, Guillaume Latombe, David G. Chapple, Steven L. Chown, Melodie A. McGeoch
Summary: The ecological network structure is maintained by a generalist core of common species, but rare species also significantly contribute to both species and functional diversity. It is crucial to capture changes in species composition and interactions to understand the roles of rare and common species. Pairwise metrics used to quantify interaction turnover are sensitive to compositional changes in rare interactions, highlighting the importance of considering both rare and common interactions in maintaining network structure and function.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Michael R. Kearney, Moshe E. Jasper, Vanessa L. White, Ian J. Aitkenhead, Mark J. Blacket, Jacinta D. Kong, Steven L. Chown, Ary A. Hoffmann
Summary: The rarity of parthenogenetic species is not due to rapid extinction but rather constrained origin. This study found that a diploid grasshopper species underwent a single hybrid mating origin at least 0.25 million years ago and showed no changes in fitness compared to its sexual progenitors.
Article
Soil Science
Steven L. Chown, Dana M. Bergstrom, Melissa Houghton, Kate Kiefer, Aleks Terauds, Rachel I. Leihy
Summary: The study supports the predictions of the Antarctic climate-diversity-invasion hypothesis, indicating that climate change affects the abundance and diversity of indigenous fauna in the Antarctic region. Invasive alien species have negative impacts on indigenous fauna. The research shows that the density of indigenous fauna on invaded islands in the Antarctic is significantly lower than on uninvaded islands.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
David Renault, Camille Leclerc, Marc-Antoine Colleu, Aude Boutet, Hoel Hotte, Herve Colinet, Steven L. Chown, Peter Convey
Summary: Polar and alpine regions are experiencing rapid changes due to global climate change, affecting biodiversity, particularly invertebrate ectotherms. Short-term extreme temperature events have significant impacts on high-latitude ectotherms, with native species being less resilient than their alien counterparts.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Jan M. Strugnell, Helen McGregor, Nerida G. Wilson, Karina T. Meredith, Steven L. Chown, Sally C. Y. Lau, Sharon A. Robinson, Krystyna M. Saunders
Summary: Anthropogenic climate change is causing observable changes in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, impacting local ecosystems and the Earth's climate system. Understanding Antarctica's paleoecosystems and past climate change helps constrain future projections. Biological archives provide valuable information about past ecological change and help constrain current models.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Christopher W. Weldon, John S. Terblanche, Henrika Bosua, Kevin Malod, Steven L. Chown
Summary: Females and males have different thermal preferences, as demonstrated in Mediterranean fruit flies. Males prefer higher temperatures while females prefer lower temperatures. Different temperatures have varying effects on reproductive fitness and lifespan, but male traits align more closely with their thermal preference.
JOURNAL OF THERMAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Zoology
S. L. Chown
Summary: In an 1854 lecture, TH Huxley proposed three criteria for measuring the importance of physiology: its contribution to science, its practical value, and its inclusion in education. Macrophysiology, the study of variation in physiological traits at large scales, has made significant contributions to eco-evolutionary research and understanding the conservation implications of physiological variation in the last two decades. It has been successful in studying thermal and metabolic responses to variable environments, but progress in understanding water regulation in changing environments has been slower. The development of new datasets and the use of genomics-based approaches show promise in expanding the scope of macrophysiology research. The findings of macrophysiological investigations have influenced policy reports and implementation actions, benefiting society and the environment. However, more efforts are needed to combat the prevailing anti-science attitudes globally.
JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jasmine R. Lee, Aleks Terauds, Josie Carwardine, Justine D. Shaw, Richard A. Fuller, Hugh P. Possingham, Steven L. Chown, Peter Convey, Neil Gilbert, Kevin A. Hughes, Ewan McIvor, Sharon A. Robinson, Yan Ropert-Coudert, Dana M. Bergstrom, Elisabeth M. Biersma, Claire Christian, Don A. Cowan, Yves Frenot, Stephanie Jenouvrier, Lisa Kelley, Michael J. Lee, Heather J. Lynch, Birgit Njastad, Antonio Quesada, Ricardo M. Roura, E. Ashley Shaw, Damon Stanwell-Smith, Megumu Tsujimoto, Diana H. Wall, Annick Wilmotte, Iadine Chades
Summary: Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity is under multiple threats, and current conservation efforts are deemed insufficient. A participatory study estimates that up to 65% of native terrestrial taxa and land-associated seabirds may decline by 2100. Implementing 10 key threat management strategies could benefit up to 84% of Antarctic taxa.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anton M. Potapov, Carlos A. Guerra, Johan van den Hoogen, Anatoly Babenko, Bruno C. Bellini, Matty P. Berg, Steven L. Chown, Louis Deharveng, Lubomir Kovac, Natalia A. Kuznetsova, Jean-Francois Ponge, Mikhail B. Potapov, David J. Russell, Douglas Alexandre, Juha M. Alatalo, Javier I. Arbea, Ipsa Bandyopadhyaya, Veronica Bernava, Stef Bokhorst, Thomas Bolger, Gabriela Castano-Meneses, Matthieu Chauvat, Ting-Wen Chen, Mathilde Chomel, Aimee T. Classen, Jerome Cortet, Peter Cuchta, Ana Manuela de la Pedrosa, Susana S. D. Ferreira, Cristina Fiera, Juliane Filser, Oscar Franken, Saori Fujii, Essivi Gagnon Koudji, Meixiang Gao, Benoit Gendreau-Berthiaume, Diego F. Gomez-Pamies, Michelle Greve, I. Tanya Handa, Charlene Heiniger, Martin Holmstrup, Pablo Homet, Mari Ivask, Charlene Janion-Scheepers, Malte Jochum, Sophie Joimel, Bruna Claudia S. Jorge, Edite Jucevica, Olga Ferlian, Luis Carlos Iunes de Oliveira Filho, Osmar Klauberg-Filho, Dilmar Baretta, Eveline J. Krab, Annely Kuu, Estevam C. A. de Lima, Dunmei Lin, Zoe Lindo, Amy Liu, Jing-Zhong Lu, Maria Jose Lucianez, Michael T. Marx, Matthew A. McCary, Maria A. Minor, Taizo Nakamori, Ilaria Negri, Raul Ochoa-Hueso, Jose G. Palacios-Vargas, Melanie M. Pollierer, Pascal Querner, Natalia Raschmanova, Muhammad Imtiaz Rashid, Laura J. Raymond-Leonard, Laurent Rousseau, Ruslan A. Saifutdinov, Sandrine Salmon, Emma J. Sayer, Nicole Scheunemann, Cornelia Scholz, Julia Seeber, Yulia B. Shveenkova, Sophya K. Stebaeva, Maria Sterzynska, Xin Sun, Winda I. Susanti, Anastasia A. Taskaeva, Madhav P. Thakur, Maria A. Tsiafouli, Matthew S. Turnbull, Mthokozisi N. Twala, Alexei V. Uvarov, Lisa A. Venier, Lina A. Widenfalk, Bruna R. Winck, Daniel Winkler, Donghui Wu, Zhijing Xie, Rui Yin, Douglas Zeppelini, Thomas W. Crowther, Nico Eisenhauer, Stefan Scheu
Summary: Soil life plays a crucial role in maintaining the functioning and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Among soil arthropods, springtails are highly abundant and they regulate soil fertility and energy flow in above- and belowground food webs. However, we currently have limited knowledge about the global distribution of springtail diversity and density, as well as their relationship with energy fluxes.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rachel I. Leihy, Lou Peake, David A. Clarke, Steven L. Chown, Melodie A. McGeoch
Summary: Open data on biological invasions are crucial in regions with shared responsibility for invasive species control, such as the Antarctic. Despite successful invasion policies, centralized data on invasive species are lacking. This dataset provides comprehensive information on introduced and invasive species in the Antarctic region, including their identity, establishment, eradication status, and impact. The data serve as a baseline for combating the increasing risk of biological invasion in the region.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Genie M. M. Fleming, Moataz M. M. ElQadi, Ruzka R. R. Taruc, Autiko Tela, Grant A. A. Duffy, Emma E. E. Ramsay, Peter A. A. Faber, Steven L. L. Chown
Summary: Sound has a wide-ranging influence on humans, with nature sounds generally preferred and associated with health benefits. However, quantifying and classifying soundscapes is challenging due to their complex and dynamic nature. The researchers developed an analytical procedure to address this challenge and proposed a generalized soundscape classification framework that can elucidate dominant sound sources and improve our understanding of their spatial and temporal variation.
