Article
Microbiology
Rachael Storo, Cole Easson, Mahmood Shivji, Jose V. Lopez
Summary: The microbiomes of five shark species in South Florida were characterized for the first time using high throughput DNA sequencing, revealing species specific compositions and the effects of anatomical locations. Specific microbial communities in shark teeth may include potential human pathogens, which could be informative for shark bite treatment and future research. The study concludes that South Florida sharks host species-specific microbiomes that vary among species and anatomical locations.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Daniel Sol, Oriol Lapiedra, Cesar Gonzalez-Lagos, Miquel de Caceres
Summary: Variation in food preferences is critical for individual specialization, but short-term differences can easily arise within a population while long-term preferences tend to converge.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
S. M. McCluskey, K. R. Sprogis, J. M. London, L. Bejder, N. R. Loneragan
Summary: The study provides insights into the foraging habits of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in south-western Australia, showing selective feeding behavior with a preference for Gobiidae species. Stable isotope analyses revealed niche differentiation between coastal and inshore dolphins, with coastal dolphins having a more pelagic diet and inshore dolphins feeding on enriched prey typical of estuarine environments.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alexia Mouchet, Ella F. Cole, Erik Matthysen, Marion Nicolaus, John L. Quinn, Allison M. Roth, Joost M. Tinbergen, Kees van Oers, Thijs van Overveld, Niels J. Dingemanse
Summary: The study shows that selection on exploration behavior primarily varies spatially across populations, while also varying within populations among years. Spatial variation in selection may represent a primary mechanism maintaining animal personalities and promoting local adaptation, phenotype-dependent dispersal, and nonrandom settlement. Combining multiple spatiotemporal scales is important for studying behavioral adaptation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Philip G. Hahn, Ken Keefover-Ring, Linh M. N. Nguyen, John L. Maron
Summary: The study shows that there are negative, neutral, and positive correlations between plant growth and defense at different scales, indicating that resource availability influences the evolution of defense characteristics.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Chenxia Zuo, Tingting Zhang, Chenchen Zhang, Daotan Zhao, Yi Zhu, Xiaojie Ma, Haiyan Wang, Peizhen Ma, Zhen Zhang
Summary: This study tested the utility of five gene fragments for analyzing the genetic diversity of Mytella strigata populations in China. The results showed that COI was the most suitable gene fragment for genetic diversity studies, while D1 28S and 18S-ITS1 were useful for species identification. The study also revealed that the likely origin of M. strigata in China is Colombia, and the invasive populations in China have experienced or are currently experiencing a population bottleneck.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Giorgio Chessari, Andrea Criscione, Marco Tolone, Alessandro Zumbo, Silvia Riggio, Ilaria Rizzuto, Angelo Moscarelli, Vito Macaluso, Baldassare Portolano, Maria Teresa Sardina, Salvatore Mastrangelo
Summary: Italy has a long history of sheep breeding and Nera del Mela, a sheep genetic resource historically reared in Sicily, possesses a defined genetic structure. The genetic diversity and population structure of Nera del Mela were evaluated using the OvineSNP50K array, revealing a moderate level of variability and the influence of other populations. The findings contribute to the possible official acknowledgement, conservation plan, and preservation of this genomic heritage.
ITALIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Carol Kamya, Christabel Abewe, Peter Waiswa, Gilbert Asiimwe, Faith Namugaya, Charles Opio, Immaculate Ampeire, Stephen Lagony, Charlotte Muheki
Summary: Over the past five years, funding for immunization in Uganda has increased fourfold from US$20.4 million in 2012 to US$85.6 million in 2016. Majority of the funds came from the Ugandan government (55%) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (59% in 2015 and 2016). At the sub-national level, districts allocated 15% of their total annual resources to immunization supervision and vaccine distribution.
Article
Plant Sciences
Yue Zhao, Fei Zhao, Yasaman Salmaki, Alan Paton, Jie Cai, Bryan T. Drew, Chonour Mahmoudi, Petr Efimov, Orzimat T. Turginov, Cun-Zhu Liang, Ya-Ping Chen, Chun-Lei Xiang
Summary: Metastachydium, a poorly understood and rare monotypic genus, has been difficult to place within the Lamiaceae family due to limited collections and lack of molecular analysis. Recent collections have allowed for a better understanding of its systematic position, and it has been determined that Metastachydium belongs to the Phlomideae tribe and is nested within the Phlomoides genus. This suggests the need to expand Phlomoides to include Metastachydium, and a new combination name, Phlomoides sagittata comb. nov., has been proposed.
Article
Communication
Shagun Jhaver, Amy X. Zhang
Summary: This study examines social media users' preferences for platform-wide moderation and user-controlled, personalized moderation tools to regulate norm-violating content. The study finds that preference for personal moderation settings is influenced by perceived negative effects on others and support for freedom of expression.
NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Ornithology
Jan Havlicek, Jan Riegert, Roman Fuchs
Summary: Lack of food is a crucial factor affecting bird population size and dynamics. The foraging behavior of House Sparrows differs between urban and rural environments, with urban birds having larger foraging-range sizes and longer distances. Some preferred habitats are less common in urban areas, increasing flight distance. Bin storage areas and poultry holdings are the most selected habitats.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Danielle Otten, Mareike Ernst, Ana N. Tibubos, Elmar Braehler, Toni Fleischer, Georg Schomerus, Philipp S. Wild, Daniela Zoeller, Harald Binder, Johannes Kruse, Hamimatunnisa Johar, Seryan Atasoy, Hans J. Grabe, Karl-Heinz Ladwig, Thomas Muenzel, Henry Voelzke, Jochem Koenig, Manfred E. Beutel
Summary: This study found that social integration plays an important protective role in preventing suicidal ideation, with positive effects on both women and men. Gender also has an impact on suicidal ideation, but there is no significant interaction between gender and social support.
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Benjamin J. J. Toscano, Hassen Allegue, Natasha J. J. Gownaris, Marta Drausnik, Zach Yung, Daniel Bauloye, Flynn Gorman, Mia Ver Pault
Summary: Prey species exhibit individual differences in response to predation risk, but follow a population-level pattern. Two snail species showed variation in behavioral types, but similar individual responses to risk. Both species increased avoidance behavior with increasing risk.
Article
Plant Sciences
Olivier Bouriaud, Francois Morneau, Jean-Daniel Bontemps
Summary: Spatially balanced sampling is the most efficient method for surveying continuous and spatially structured populations. However, the current grid-based approach for large-scale surveys limits the flexibility of building samples and conflicts with the need for periodicity and coordination of multiple samples. This study demonstrates the geometric properties of square grids and introduces an original extension to gradually reduce sampling intensity while preserving regularity in the spatial arrangement of units.
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Zoology
Fernando Cesar Cascelli de Azevedo, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, Dennis L. Murray
Summary: The study in the Pantanal region of South America evaluated jaguar selection of forest across seasonally variable forest availability, revealing dynamic shifts in habitat and kill site selection in response to seasonal flooding, with forests becoming more important as the availability of other habitats decreases.
Article
Ecology
Ana Paula Aprigio Assis, Paulo Roberto Guimaraes
Summary: Understanding how biological complexity affects the persistence and adaptation of populations is crucial, and ecological interactions play a significant role in this process. However, studies focusing on these two levels of complexity are limited.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Pedro Mittelman, Anna Rebello Landim, Luisa Genes, Ana Paula A. Assis, Carolina Starling-Manne, Paula V. Leonardo, Fernando A. S. Fernandez, Paulo R. Guimaraes, Alexandra S. Pires
Summary: Species reintroductions can increase network connectance, nestedness, robustness, number of pathways, and total amount of indirect effects, surpassing the impact of simply increasing species richness. Multiple reintroductions in the same area may have a greater restoration effect than single species reintroductions.
Article
Ecology
Pamela Friedemann, Marina Correa Cortes, Everaldo Rodrigo de Castro, Mauro Galetti, Pedro Jordano, Paulo R. Guimaraes Jr
Summary: The study found that individual palm characteristics did not influence interaction patterns in the network, but habitat type significantly affected network modularity. This suggests that the organization of individual-based networks is mainly driven by habitat type.
Editorial Material
Ecology
Tomas A. Carlo, Eliana Cazetta, Anna Traveset, Paulo R. Guimaraes, Kim R. McConkey
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Julia Tavella, Fredric M. Windsor, Debora C. Rother, Darren M. Evans, Paulo R. Guimaraes, Tania P. Palacios, Marcelo Lois, Mariano Devoto
Summary: Advances in network ecology provide new tools for sustainable management of agroecosystems. This study explores the use of motifs in agricultural ecological networks to identify key plant species in field margins. The findings support the use of motifs in multi-trophic interaction networks to reveal the role of key plant species in sustaining ecological functions involving crops and other plant species.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Rodrigo Cogni, Tiago B. Quental, Paulo R. Guimaraes Jr
Summary: The classic paper by Ehrlich and Raven on coevolution has had a significant impact on the study of coevolution and has inspired generations of scientists. Their contributions include exploring the genetic mechanisms of coevolutionary interactions, investigating the association between coevolutionary diversification and ecological network organization, and examining micro- and macroevolutionary mechanisms and patterns under their hypothesis. This paper discusses overlooked aspects and future directions for the study of coevolutionary dynamics and diversification.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mathias M. Pires, Maira Benchimol, Livia R. Cruz, Carlos A. Peres
Summary: The conversion of natural ecosystems into human-modified landscapes is the main driver of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems. Even when species persist within habitat remnants, populations may become so small that ecological interactions are functionally lost, disrupting local interaction networks. To uncover the consequences of land use changes toward ecosystem functioning, we need to understand how changes in species richness and abundance in human-modified landscapes rearrange ecological networks.
Article
Ecology
Lucas A. Camacho, Cecilia Siliansky de Andreazzi, Lucas P. Medeiros, Irina Birskis-Barros, Carine Emer, Carolina Reigada, Paulo R. R. Guimaraes Jr
Summary: A fundamental fact about mutualisms is that there are cheaters that benefit from the use of resources and services without providing any positive feedback to other species. The role of cheaters in the evolutionary dynamics of mutualisms has long been recognized, yet their broader impacts at the community level, beyond species they directly interact with, is still poorly understood. Because mutualisms form networks often involving dozens of species, indirect effects generated by cheaters may cascade through the whole community, reshaping trait evolution.
Article
Ecology
Fernando Cesar Goncalves Bonfim, Pavel Dodonov, Paulo R. R. Guimaraes Jr, Eliana Cazetta
Summary: Habitat loss has pervasive effects on biodiversity and ecological networks, leading to changes in network structure, species roles, and seed dispersal. Linear and non-linear relationships were found between habitat loss and network properties. In addition, habitat loss alters species interactions in the networks, affecting central species and indirect effects.
Article
Biology
Leandro G. Cosmo, Lilian P. Sales, Paulo R. Guimaraes Jr, Mathias M. Pires
Summary: Understanding the response of biodiversity to environmental changes requires linking local and regional ecological and evolutionary processes. In this study, we integrated evolution and mutualistic coevolution in a model of metacommunity dynamics and conducted numerical simulations to examine the effects of coevolution on species distribution and persistence. Our results demonstrate that coevolution and species richness synergistically shape distribution patterns by enhancing colonization and reducing extinction in metacommunities. Coevolution increases trait matching among mutualists at the landscape scale, counteracting local maladaptation and facilitating colonization and range expansions. Furthermore, coevolution buffers the effects of environmental changes, preventing species extinctions and metacommunity collapse. These findings elucidate the mechanisms by which coevolution promotes persistence under environmental changes, particularly in diverse systems with landscape connectivity.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Mathias M. Pires, Mauro Galetti
Summary: Human activities have caused changes in the abundance and distribution of animals, resulting in altered and less diverse ecosystems. These changes have led to the emergence of three main defaunation syndromes: herbivore-dominated, seed predator-dominated, and mesopredator-dominated systems, depending on the prevalence of different human drivers. The extirpation of top predators promotes herbivore-dominated assemblages, while habitat loss and overhunting lead to the dominance of smaller-bodied seed predators and mesopredators. In fragmented landscapes without top predators, mesopredator-dominated systems emerge with support from agricultural subsidies. The prevalence of one guild over others has significant impacts on ecological processes, ecosystem services, and human health, making it a dominant scenario in the Anthropocene.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lilian P. P. Sales, Mathias M. M. Pires
Summary: Refugia-based conservation is effective in minimizing uncertainty in climate change adaptation strategies. The study used distribution modelling to identify refugia for 617 terrestrial mammals in South America and examined the role of protected areas in providing refugia. The results showed that high-elevation moist tropical forests concentrated the highest local diversity of species refugia. However, a significant number of refugia were not within protected areas, highlighting the need for enhanced conservation efforts. Rating: 8/10.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Karoline Ceron, Lilian P. P. Sales, Diego J. J. Santana, Mathias M. M. Pires
Summary: Biodiversity loss not only includes species loss, but also loss in functional, phylogenetic, and interaction diversity. However, each aspect of biodiversity may respond differently to extinctions. This study examines the impact of extinction driven by climate and land-use changes on different facets of diversity using empirical data, species distribution modeling, and extinction simulations. The results show a mismatch in the response of functional, phylogenetic, and interaction diversity to extinction, with stronger effects on interaction diversity. Assessing species interactions is necessary to understand how species loss translates into the loss of ecosystem functions.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Leandro G. Cosmo, Ana Paula A. Assis, Marcus A. M. de Aguiar, Mathias M. Pires, Alfredo Valido, Pedro Jordano, John N. Thompson, Jordi Bascompte, Paulo R. Guimaraes Jr
Summary: Ecological interactions are vital for maintaining biodiversity on Earth. This study investigates the impact of direct and indirect effects in mutualistic networks, showing that indirect effects play a major role in determining species fitness. Indirect effects prevent coevolving species from adapting to their mutualistic partners and other environmental pressures, resulting in decreased fitness. The topological effect of peripheral species experiencing more indirect effects and greater reduction in fitness compared to central species is evident. The study also highlights how honeybees as a central species in pollination networks increase indirect effects, thus reducing the fitness of other species.
