Review
Ecology
Paul J. CaraDonna, Laura A. Burkle, Benjamin Schwarz, Julian Resasco, Tiffany M. Knight, Gita Benadi, Nico Bluethgen, Carsten F. Dormann, Qiang Fang, Jochen Frund, Benoit Gauzens, Christopher N. Kaiser-Bunbury, Rachael Winfree, Diego P. Vazquez
Summary: Studies have shown that plant-animal mutualistic networks exhibit high levels of dynamism at different temporal scales, with the most significant changes observed at the finest temporal scales. While temporal variation weakly influences network properties at intermediate scales, continued shifts in interactions at the broadest temporal scales lead to dramatic community changes.
Article
Ecology
Youssef Yacine, Nicolas Loeuille
Summary: Ecological communities are made up of multiple species that interact in various ways. Understanding how these species coexist requires considering the diversity of interactions. By studying a typical three-species module of plant-pollinator-herbivore communities, we identified the importance of balancing pollination and herbivory interactions in maintaining stable coexistence. Empirical evidence suggests that shared preferences for plant phenotypes contribute to this balance.
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING
(2022)
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Esther Justicia Correcher, Sandra Hervias-Parejo, Rocio Ruiz de Ybanez Carnero, Sohan Sauroy-Toucouere, Anna Traveset
Summary: Despite the known interactions between lizards and flowering plants, the study of plant-lizard interactions is lacking. This study reviewed global data and examined the factors influencing the distribution of lizard-flower interactions. The study also investigated the functional role of lizards in plant reproduction and the factors influencing the distribution of lizard double mutualisms worldwide.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Maoxin Zhang, Guangyu Li, Tingting He, Ge Zhai, Andong Guo, Hang Chen, Cifang Wu
Summary: The abandonment of cropland in China poses a threat to food security and has significant impacts on society, economy, and the natural environment. Mapping and monitoring abandoned cropland on a large scale has been a challenge. This study utilized high-resolution satellite data to detect and map abandoned cropland in China from 1990 to 2019, providing valuable insights into its spatial distribution, intensity, trends, frequency, and recultivation.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Development Studies
Seungjoo Baek, Heeyeun Yoon, Yeankyoung Hahm
Summary: Farm abandonment has led to negative consequences globally, including reduced agricultural productions and deteriorated local communities. Previous studies mainly focused on individual factors, neglecting the spatial relationships among parcels. In this study, the spatial interactions among abandoned farmland in Gwangyang City, South Korea, were investigated. The findings showed that farmland abandonment is influenced by neighboring parcels and both internal and external factors. The dispersion index confirmed the association between farmland fragmentation and abandonment.
HABITAT INTERNATIONAL
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ignacio Rubio-Somoza, Miguel A. Blazquez
Summary: Plants and microorganisms have a long-standing relationship, and it has been discovered that plants had molecular tools to recognize pathogens even before they colonized the land.
Article
Water Resources
Carmelo Juez, Estela Nadal-Romero, Erik L. H. Cammeraat, David Regues
Summary: This research investigates the spatial and temporal variability of water table dynamics in a small afforested sub-catchment in the Central Spanish Pyrenees. The study highlights the significant differences in groundwater dynamics among afforestation areas, natural revegetation areas, and early abandoned meadows, with complex hydrological behavior observed. The results reveal a high temporal and spatial variability, with different runoff generation processes identified in relation to wet and dry periods.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Rong Wang, Yang Yang, Yi Jing, Simon T. Segar, Yu Zhang, Gang Wang, Jin Chen, Qing-Feng Liu, Shan Chen, Yan Chen, Astrid Cruaud, Yuan-Yuan Ding, Derek W. Dunn, Qiang Gao, Philip M. Gilmartin, Kai Jiang, Finn Kjellberg, Hong-Qing Li, Yuan-Yuan Li, Jian-Quan Liu, Min Liu, Carlos A. Machado, Ray Ming, Jean-Yves Rasplus, Xin Tong, Ping Wen, Huan-Ming Yang, Jing-Jun Yang, Ye Yin, Xing-Tan Zhang, Yuan-Ye Zhang, Hui Yu, Zhen Yue, Stephen G. Compton, Xiao-Yong Chen
Summary: This study reveals the molecular mechanisms underlying coevolved mutualism between Ficus pumila var. pumila and its specific pollinating wasp, Wiebesia pumilae, through analysis of high-quality genomes. The research identifies specific attractants and key genes regulating biosynthesis in the plant, as well as reduced odorant-binding protein genes in the pollinator.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Mario Padial-Iglesias, Miquel Ninyerola, Pere Serra, Oscar Gonzalez-Guerrero, Josep Maria Espelta, Joan Pino, Xavier Pons
Summary: This study analyzes the spatio-temporal dynamics of forest expansion in the Iberian Peninsula, revealing different trajectories and drivers of forest expansion across biogeographical regions. Considering the ecological and social impacts is important for developing reliable policies.
Review
Plant Sciences
Liam German, Richa Yeshvekar, Yoselin Benitez-Alfonso
Summary: Cell walls are critical for plant growth and development, providing support and protection. Callose, a type of glucan, accumulates in specialized cell wall microdomains, including plasmodesmata. It regulates important biological processes and affects the transport of signaling proteins and RNA molecules. The mechanisms controlling callose synthesis and degradation are still unresolved. This review explores recent literature on callose metabolism and its response to mutualistic symbionts and pathogenic elicitors.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
J. Pacheco-Huh, D. Carmona, G. Dzib, M. Chavez-Pesqueira
Summary: Shifts in phenotypes from domestication syndromes impact plant performance and interactions with other species. Little is known about how domestication and cultivation practices can modify ecological interactions. Wild papaya plants had higher diversity and visitation rate of floral visitors, and less foliar damage compared to domesticated plants. Cultivation practices and domestication appear to reduce the diversity of floral visitors and increase foliar damage in domesticated papaya.
Article
Plant Sciences
Camille Puginier, Jean Keller, Pierre-Marc Delaux
Summary: Plants have independently colonized emerged lands over the last 450 million years with the help of mutualistic interactions with fungi and potentially bacteria. The diversity of developmental and physiological features in plants results from gains and losses of functional innovations across the plant phylogeny. The terrestrialization of plants, especially embryophytes, has been extensively studied, but other plant lineages also underwent similar processes facilitated by mutualistic symbioses.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Belinda Kahnt, Panagiotis Theodorou, Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth, Renske E. Onstein
Summary: Pollination and seed dispersal by animals are crucial for plant diversity and ecosystem functioning. This study examines the evolution of mutualistic behaviors in lizards, revealing the repeated evolution of flower visitation and seed dispersal in these species. The findings suggest a potential evolutionary mechanism behind the emergence of double mutualisms, with seed dispersal activity pre-dating flower visitation.
MOLECULAR PHYLOGENETICS AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Anran Dong, Xuelian He, Yiming Deng, Luxiang Lin, Eben Goodale, Vincent Lecours, Jorge Ahumada
Summary: Long-term vegetation plots represent a significant investment in ecology research, but linking plant and animal data is challenging due to human interference. Recent advances in automated animal sound identification offer a solution to study plant-animal interactions without disturbance. By deploying autonomous recording units (ARUs) and using Animal Sound Identifier (ASI) software, researchers were able to detect frugivorous bird vocalizations and observe significant positive relationships between bird and fruiting tree species. These findings demonstrate the potential of ARUs and automated voice identification to study animal distribution and movement in large vegetation plots and link animal data to plant data.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Bo Dalsgaard, Pietro Kiyoshi Maruyama, Jesper Sonne, Katrine Hansen, Thais B. Zanata, Stefan Abrahamczyk, Ruben Alarcon, Andrea C. Araujo, Francielle P. Araujo, Silvana Buzato, Edgar Chavez-Gonzalez, Aline G. Coelho, Peter A. Cotton, Roman Diaz-Valenzuela, Maria F. Dufke, Paula L. Enriquez, Manoel Martins Dias Filho, Erich Fischer, Glauco Kohler, Carlos Lara, Flor Maria G. Las-Casas, Liliana Rosero Lasprilla, Adriana O. Machado, Caio G. Machado, Maria A. Maglianesi, Tiago S. Malucelli, Oscar H. Marin-Gomez, Vanessa Martinez-Garcia, Severino Mendes de Azevedo-Junior, Edvaldo Nunes da Silva Neto, Paulo E. Oliveira, Juan Francisco Ornelas, Raul Ortiz-Pulido, Ruth Partida-Lara, Blanca Itzel Patino-Gonzalez, Steffani Najara de Pinho Queiroz, Monica B. Ramirez-Burbano, Andre Rodrigo Rech, Marcia A. Rocca, Licleia C. Rodrigues, Ana M. Rui, Ivan Sazima, Marlies Sazima, Benno I. Simmons, Boris A. Tinoco, Isabela G. Varassin, Marcelo F. Vasconcelos, Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni, Stella Watts, Jonathan D. Kennedy, Carsten Rahbek, Matthias Schleuning, Ana M. Martin Gonzalez
Summary: The study investigated the impact of biogeography and evolutionary history on the role of functional traits in species interactions. Results showed that hummingbird clades dominated by long-billed species tend to visit longer flowers and show higher resource specialization. Additionally, bill length correlated with floral corolla length across regions and most clades, but did not strongly predict resource specialization.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
F. Ballesteros, G. Palomero, J. C. Blanco, J. V. Lopez-Bao
Summary: This study documents a bear infanticide attempt in the Cantabrian Mountains where a male bear killed the female during a fight and consumed the carcass. Data from documented cases of sexually selected infanticides between 1996 and 2020 suggest that male bears may benefit from feeding on the carcasses of females unintentionally killed while defending their cubs.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Juan P. Gonzalez-Varo, Alejandro Onrubia, Nestor Perez-Mendez, Ruben Tarifa, Juan C. Illera
Summary: Research on seed-dispersal mutualisms has shown that the abundance of fruit resources has a positive effect on the degree of frugivory and body condition of frugivorous birds. Consideration of trait matching improves predictions of diet type and body condition, while considering resource provisioning did not enhance explanatory power. Strong and sex-dependent effects of fruit resources on body condition suggest that they may impact the timing and success of reproduction.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Juan C. Blanco, Guillermo Palomero, Jose Lopez-Bao, Fernando Ballesteros
Summary: This article discusses the heritable behavioral traits of brown bear attacks on humans in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain, suggesting that genetic variation may influence attacks of large carnivores on people.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Emma Dennehy, Luis Llaneza, Jose Vicente Lopez-Bao
Summary: The study found that wolves respond differently to different types of paved roads, with wolves crossing low speed and low traffic volume roads more frequently to avoid encounters with traffic. Mortality was highest on high speed and high traffic volume roads, highlighting the importance of considering paved road classes when studying the impact of roads on wildlife.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ruben Tarifa, Carlos Martinez-Nunez, Francisco Valera, Juan P. Gonzalez-Varo, Teresa Salido, Pedro J. Rey
Summary: The study demonstrates that increasing landscape complexity can mitigate the impact of agriculture on herbaceous plant composition, while agricultural intensification favors more functionally homogeneous assemblages and disadvantages insect-pollinated herbs. Functional richness increases exponentially with species richness, but in simple landscapes, species richness alone cannot lead to a significant enhancement in functional richness.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Juan P. Gonzalez-Varo, Beatriz Rumeu, Joerg Albrecht, Juan M. Arroyo, Rafael S. Bueno, Tamara Burgos, Luis P. da Silva, Gema Escribano-Avila, Nina Farwig, Daniel Garcia, Ruben H. Heleno, Juan C. Illera, Pedro Jordano, Przemyslaw Kurek, Benno Simmons, Emilio Virgos, William J. Sutherland, Anna Traveset
Summary: Climate change is rapidly affecting the redistribution of life on Earth, with migratory birds playing a crucial role in helping plants track climate change through seed dispersal. However, the direction of seed dispersal by birds can vary depending on the fruiting period of plant species and the direction of their migration. The study found that most plant species in European woodland communities are dispersed by birds migrating southward, with only a few species being dispersed by birds migrating northward, indicating a potential impact on the formation of novel plant communities and their ecosystem functions.
Article
Plant Sciences
Lina Herbertsson, Johan Ekroos, Matthias Albrecht, Ignasi Bartomeus, Peter Batary, Riccardo Bommarco, Paul Caplat, Tim Diekotter, Jenny M. Eikestam, Martin H. Entling, Sunniva Farbu, Nina Farwig, Juan P. Gonzalez-Varo, Annika L. Hass, Andrea Holzschuh, Sebastian Hopfenmueller, Anna Jakobsson, Birgit Jauker, Aniko Kovacs-Hostyanszki, Wera Kleve, William E. Kunin, Sandra A. M. Lindstrom, Sarah Mullen, Erik Ockinger, Theodora Petanidou, Simon G. Potts, Eileen F. Power, Maj Rundlof, Kathrin Seibel, Virve Sober, Annika Soderman, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Jane C. Stout, Tiit Teder, Teja Tscharntke, Henrik G. Smith
Summary: The study found that increasing proportion of arable land can affect seed set of insect-pollinated plants, with the impact varying depending on the flower visitation by bees. The effect of arable land on seed set and flower visitation by bees varies across studies.
PLANT ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Editorial Material
Biodiversity Conservation
Jose Vicente Lopez-Bao, Patricia Mateo-Tomas
CONSERVATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Ornithology
Juan Pedro Gonzalez-Varo, Beatriz Rumeu, Anna Traveset, Juan Carlos Illera
Summary: The article highlights the advantages of using DNA barcoding analysis after rapid field sampling to discover unknown seed dispersers. This method allows for quick insights into bird species that help disperse seeds and is particularly useful in locations where regular fieldwork is challenging. The approach is cost-effective and valuable for pilot studies on poorly understood systems.
ARDEOLA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Beatriz Rumeu, Juan P. Gonzalez-Varo, Cristina de Castro, Antonio Lopez-Orta, Juan Carlos Illera, Marcos Minarro, Daniel Garcia
Summary: The traditional mist-netting method is inefficient and biased for sampling community-wide seed-dispersal interactions. The use of mesh bands below the mist nets significantly increases sampling effectiveness and reduces biases. This optimization method is crucial for studying the seed dispersal function.
Article
Biology
N. Perez-Mendez, C. Alcaraz, A. Bertolero, M. Catala-Forner, L. A. Garibaldi, J. P. Gonzalez-Varo, S. Rivaes, M. Martinez-Eixarch
Summary: This study evaluated the effects of changes in water management in rice farming on greenhouse gas emissions and waterbird diversity. The results showed that drying rice fields reduced methane emissions but decreased waterbird diversity, suggesting that post-invasion policies may have unintended negative consequences on biodiversity conservation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biology
Erik Joaquin Torres-Romero, Gerardo Ceballos, Francisco Botello, Jose Ignacio Gonzalez Rojas, Anthony J. Giordano, Jose Vicente Lopez-Bao
Summary: Expanding human activities pose a threat to large-bodied species like jaguars worldwide. Understanding the impact of human-modified landscapes on home range sizes is crucial.
REVISTA DE BIOLOGIA TROPICAL
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Patricia Mateo-Tomas, Jorge Rodriguez-Perez, Maria Fernandez-Garcia, Emilio J. Garcia, Joao Pedro Valente e Santos, Ivan Gutierrez, Pedro P. Olea, Beatriz Rodriguez-Moreno, Jose Vicente Lopez-Bao
Summary: Monitoring compliance with environmental laws is crucial, and remote tracking technologies can utilize wildlife as sentinels to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Abid Ali, Iftikhar Uz Zaman, Talha Omer, Shakeel Ahmad, Jose Vicente Lopez-Bao
Summary: The conservation of the vulnerable Asiatic black bear in Pakistan is being hindered by retaliatory killings and negative interactions between people and bears. The economic impact of livestock depredation events is significant, accounting for a large portion of the local economy. Additionally, incidents between people and bears have resulted in fatalities.
CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Henrik Andren, Malin Aronsson, Jose Lopez-Bao, Gustaf Samelius, Guillaume Chapron, Geir Rune Rauset, Heather Hemmingmoore, Jens Persson
Summary: The study found that in human-dominated areas, although human activities (such as hunting, poaching, and vehicle accidents) were the main causes of mortality in Eurasian lynx, home range characteristics did not significantly affect lynx survival rate. While the density of deer may affect lynx ecology, in the study area, deer density was high enough not to impact lynx survival. Apart from natural dispersal periods, lynx mortality was highest during the hunting season (February 16 to March 31), winter, and autumn.
