Monsoon mysteries: Impact of rainfall-induced hydrographic changes on coastal zooplankton communities.

Extraction, purification, structure characteristics and biological activities of polysaccharides from Saccharina japonica (Laminaria japonica): A review.

Examining the ecological role of Nemopilema nomurai as an energy transfer pathway through Ecopath with Ecosim: A case study in the offshore area adjacent to the Changjiang River estuary.

Diclofenac stress responses and biotransformation pathways in the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum.

Climate change (CC) is driving shifts in marine ecosystems, particularly affecting temperate and subtropical marine forests, which are critical for biodiversity and ecosystem stability. Dominated by canopy-forming seaweeds, these forests are sensitive to CC-induced stressors, such as rising temperatures and tropicalisation, which favour turf-forming algae and increase the abundance of herbivorous fish, threatening ecosystem structure and function. Along the western coast of Portugal in Southern Europe, the herbivorous fish Sarpa salpa plays a key role in tropicalisation, potentially exacerbating the decline of cold-water seaweeds, whilst the Iberian upwelling system may offer localised protection through cooler conditions. This study combines stomach content analysis, subtidal surveys, functional trait analyses, fish landing records, and sea surface temperature (SST) data across the North, Centre, and South regions to assess the ecological role of S. salpa. Results confirmed a preference for brown algae, including habitat-forming species, with clear regional variation: kelps dominated diets in the North, whilst Cystoseira s.l. and turf-forming species prevailed in the Centre and South. Fish landing analyses revealed region-specific dynamics: landings in the North increased with higher SST, those in the Centre were unaffected by temperature, and those in the South were negatively correlated with SST. These findings highlight the potential threat of S. salpa to temperate marine forests under CC.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-026-04743-w.

Rare microbial taxa as potential drivers of yield variation in sauce-flavor baijiu fermentation: Insights from microecology and machine learning.

Viral community dynamics and virus-prokaryote interactions in a full-scale constructed wetland.

Decadal change (2015-2025) in seagrass cover, species composition and ecosystem quality in eastern Bintan marine protected area, Indonesia.

Anthropogenic climate change is rapidly altering marine environments primarily through ocean warming, acidification, and hyposalinity, posing significant challenges for marine calcifying organisms. This study investigated the short-term effects of these stressors on the Mediterranean bivalve Chamelea gallina, a key fishery species in the Adriatic Sea, by integrating skeletal, mechanical, and mineralogical responses. Adult clams of commercial size were exposed for 21days to eight experimental treatments manipulating two levels of temperature (18 °C vs. 22 °C), pH (8.0 vs. 7.9), and salinity (35 vs. 32), chosen to reproduce near-future climate projections and the freshwater-driven variability typical of the Adriatic Sea. Despite the short exposure duration, the combined exposure to low pH, high temperature, and reduced salinity weakens the shell of Chamelea gallina at multiple levels, compromising shell integrity, by making shells less dense, more porous, more fragile, and more susceptible to fracture, and increasing mortality. Microstructural analysis revealed smaller aragonite crystallites and lower calcium content, indicative of early impairments in the calcification process. The study highlights the occurrence of synergistic effects among stressors and reveals the vulnerability of Chamelea gallina to near-future ocean conditions, with potential cascading consequences for ecosystem functioning and fishery sustainability, given the species' key ecological role and commercial relevance in the Adriatic Sea.

How keystone taxa shape sediment carbon accumulation during lake restoration: A new insight from asynchronous regime shifts of community structure and function.

ABSTRACT Millions of trees are lost in urban areas globally, thereby increasing the vulnerability of urban dwellers to natural disasters. Jakarta is a city and province experiencing an increase in flooding and air pollution. This paper examines urban forest implementation in Jakarta, Indonesia, through a systematic literature review while examining its ecological benefits through i-Tree Canopy. This research finds that urban forests are less well managed in Indonesia, especially Jakarta, due to the government and community’s lack of attention and awareness of the importance of the ecological role of urban forests. However, in reality, the benefits of Jakarta’s urban forests from carbon absorption and pollution removal are estimated to reach at least 8 million USD/year. Community participation in urban forest management in Jakarta remains very limited and is often dominated by authority holders (tokenism). Thus, the importance of collaboration (process and effect) in effective urban forest management is an issue that needs to be studied in further research in the global and Jakarta context.

Quantifying bacteria's growth rates is essential for understanding their ecological roles and for building predictive models in environmental and clinical settings. Peak-to-trough ratios (PTRs) derived from shotgun metagenomes offer a culture-independent proxy for in situ growth rates of bacterial species, yet their reliable computation remains challenging. We introduce Pilea(https://github.com/xinehc/pilea), an alignment-free, sketching-based method that incorporates statistical models for robust PTR estimation. Pilea achieves speed improvements over existing methods while also enhancing accuracy, as demonstrated on both simulated and real datasets. By scaling efficiently to comprehensive reference collections such as the Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB), Pilea enables large-scale analyses of bacterial growth dynamics across biomes, unlocking new insights for ecological research. Video Abstract.

Seasonal dynamics of host-associated microbiome and potential human pathogen in Crassostrea ariakensis and Perna viridis.

Biotic interactions, crucial for understanding the ecology and evolution of species, are often conceptualized as ecological networks. However, the complexity of real ecosystems poses challenges for empirical inference, and theoretical interaction models, while informative, frequently fail to undergo empirical validation. This dual limitation creates a gap between theoretical and empirical approaches in portraying ecosystem dynamics and identifying (and protecting) key species, which are critical for conservation efforts and ecosystem management. In order to bridge this operational gap, we present a novel automated protocol capable of generating realistic trophic networks, including multilayer ones, using non-curated, freely-available species lists from real ecosystems as input data. As a proof-of-concept, we applied this method to the species lists contained in the RAMSAR database of wetland ecosystems. Our data mining algorithm enriches these species lists with functional traits, such as body size, habitat, and diet, by integrating information directly sourced from online biodiversity databases. Subsequently, a modified version of the Allometric Niche Model is used to sort species within the trophic network according to their functional traits and ecological roles. After demonstrating the algorithmic robustness of our method and the biological plausibility of the resulting ecological networks, we illustrate its potential to characterize, in a cost-efficient manner, the structure of real-world ecosystems and to identify the organisms that are crucial for maintaining that structure. In this case study, our findings indicate that the robustness of wetland ecosystems often depends on medium-sized, highly mobile organisms occupying intermediate trophic levels.

Vertical distribution pattern, preferred life strategies and environmental response of prokaryotic microbiome in the eastern tropical indian ocean.

Meiofaunal communities play a critical ecological role in sedimentary ecosystems by mediating energy transfer between microbenthic producers and macrobenthic consumers. However, comparative data on interstitial assemblages from contrasting coastal habitats along the southeast Indian coast remain limited. The present study aimed to evaluate the diversity, composition, and density of interstitial meiofauna in relation to selected physico-chemical parameters at two contrasting habitats along the Parangipettai coast, southeast India—Vellar estuary (Station 1) and Puthupettai sandy beach (Station 2)—between October 2024 and March 2025. Triplicate sediment samples were collected monthly from each station. Surface sediments were processed using standard decantation and sieving techniques for meiofaunal extraction, and water quality parameters (temperature, salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen) were recorded in situ. A total of 12 species representing 12 genera under three major taxonomic groups were identified. Nematodes dominated the assemblage (55%), followed by amphipods (25%), polychaetes (10%), and copepods (10%). Meiofaunal density was higher at Station 2 (≈1000 ind/m²) compared to Station 1 (≈820 ind/m²). Diversity indices indicated greater richness and evenness at Station 2 (S = 27; E′ = 0.48; H′ = 1.22) than at Station 1 (S = 25; E′ = 0.20; H′ = 1.05). The higher diversity and abundance at the sandy beach site suggest that relatively stable salinity regimes and improved oxygen availability promote structurally complex and evenly distributed meiofaunal communities. Overall, this study highlights habitat-specific variation in interstitial assemblages and underscores the importance of sandy beach systems in sustaining meiofaunal biodiversity along the Parangipettai coast.

Bats serve as critical reservoirs of zoonotic pathogens but also play essential ecological roles. To mitigate spillover risks without harming bat populations, we developed a multiroute vaccination strategy using recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)–based vaccines. Vaccine-carrying mosquitoes delivered rVSV-based rabies and Nipah vaccines, conferring protection in rodent and bat models. Under simulated natural conditions, cohabitation with vaccine-carrying mosquitoes elicited strong immune responses in bats, supporting feasibility beyond laboratory settings. As a complementary approach, saline traps exploiting bats’ mineral-seeking behavior achieved comparable immune protection through oral vaccination. Together, these results demonstrate a flexible, ecology-informed vaccination platform for immunizing wild bats, offering a scalable strategy to reduce zoonotic spillover risk while supporting bat conservation.

Sea urchins are interesting creatures that play important ecological roles in the sea and are popular for their culinary and medicinal uses, which belong to phylum of Echinodermata. However, rapid environmental changes create a significant impact on marine species, including sea urchins, causing them severe stress. To address this issue, scientists are attempting to cultivate sea urchins in aquaculture to aid both conservation and commercial efforts. In this study, we aimed to investigate the physiological effects of stressors on sea urchin Arbacia punctulata, using three different stress conditions: increased temperature as a physical stressor, inoculation of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) as a chemical stressor, and a combination of both (increased temperature and LPS). We collected coelomic fluid (CF) from all the experimental groups at day 1, day 3, day 7, and day 10 and observed significant variations in the numbers of total and differential coelomocytes, namely, phagocytic cells, vibratile cells, red spherule cells, and colorless spherule cells in different stress conditions compared to controlled conditions (p < 0.05). The immune cells of sea urchins, especially phagocytic cells and red spherule cells, actively responded with LPS (4 µg/ml of CF/day). Our study also found a significant amount of protein in sea urchin’s cell free coelomic fluid exposed to increased temperature stress (p < 0.05) compared to that of control group. Both physical and chemical stressors impacted the growth and reproduction of sea urchins for long time exposure to stressors. We also observed lower gonadosomatic index (GSI) in the group exposed combined stressors: LPS inoculation (4 µg/ml of CF/day) and increased temperature (1˚C/day) in comparison with the control group (p < 0.05) at day 10.

P2-like viruses (P2Vs), temperate phages of the Peduoviridae family, possess a lysogenic lifestyle that renders traditional isolation unsuitable, hindering our understanding of their diversity and ecological roles. Utilizing profile-hidden Markov models to analyze public databases, this study achieved four major advances: (1) Identified 5945 P2V genomes and built the P2V Genome Dataset (P2VGD), expanding known genomes 48-fold; (2) Phylogenetic classification into 13 superclades and 4671 genus-level clusters, a 106-fold diversity increase; (3) Identification of 757 auxiliary metabolic genes with biome-specific metatranscriptomic activities: human gut P2Vs encode antibiotic efflux and cell-wall remodeling enzymes, while oligotrophic marine P2Vs express glycan-scavenging enzymes; (4) Uncovering their widespread distribution across diverse biomes, dominated by host-associated environments but extending to under-sampled natural ecosystems. These findings greatly expand the genomic and functional understanding of P2Vs, highlighting their biological strategies in host adaptation, virus-host co-evolution, and microbiome dynamics.