Spatial richness patterns of large pelagic fishes in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Ellobiid snail loss in seawall-fronted mangroves.

Land-use changes shape mosquito assemblages, host-feeding and arbovirus infection in Baringo County, Kenya.

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

Low-temperature anammox efficiency is governed by matrix-mediated modulation of quorum sensing.

Fabrication of bioprints self-coated with thermally sensitive lactobacilli for CAUTI applications.

Miaolingian-Furongian (Cambrian) high-resolution marine species richness patterns of the North China Block

The response to declining atmospheric N deposition between 1992 and 2021 was studied in ungrazed coastal dune grasslands representative for NW Europe, in a synthesis of 11 separate studies. With the decline from 25 to 15 kg N ha −1 year −1 , average aboveground biomass decreased from 450 to 150 g m −2 , while plant species richness increased from 7 to 14, albeit only in tallgrass vegetation. Apart from N deposition, soil and landscape factors such as pH and SOM were important drivers. Low biomass levels could be reached at high pH and/or low SOM, but not at low pH and high SOM. The vegetation was N-limited at low SOM, and higher aboveground biomass with high SOM could be explained by higher N mineralization. Decrease in biomass with pH was associated with shifts in P-availability and plant strategies for nutrient uptake. At high pH, insoluble calcium phosphate was the major source of P, which favours arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants. Plant species richness increased, but aboveground biomass decreased, probably due to high costs to the fungal partner. However, even at high pH, the vegetation was not P-limited, which may explain its sensitivity to high N deposition. At low pH, organic and sorbed P predominated, which favour nonmycorrhizal plants. Aboveground biomass increased at low pH with higher P availability and higher plant N use efficiency. This study provides strong evidence that lower N deposition indeed helps recovery of vegetation, but also stresses the importance of pH and SOM as key controls for nature management. Our study presents empirical evidence that the decline in nitrogen (N) deposition over the past decades led to a significant decrease in aboveground vascular plant biomass in ungrazed Dutch coastal dune grasslands ( p = 0.006), and in tallgrass also to higher species richness ( p = 0.018). However, as visualized above, the actual responses to N deposition depended on pH and soil organic matter content (SOM), through their influence on availability of N and P, as well as plant strategies for nutrient uptake. Soil pH and SOM are also key controls for nature management, and can be improved by stimulation of aeolian activity. • Aboveground biomass decreased with the decline in N deposition in coastal dune grasslands. • Plant species richness increased with lower N deposition, but only in tallgrass vegetation. • Effects of high N deposition were enlarged by high SOM, but mitigated by high pH. • High SOM increased N mineralization, while high pH decreased P availability and N use efficiency. • N deposition always increased biomass as plants were sometimes N-limited, but never P-limited.

Machine learning enhanced ecoacoustic indices for coral reef species richness prediction in noise-impacted soundscapes

Refining the aquatic microplastic risk assessment framework through dynamic flux simulation and ecological thresholds.

Ecosystem functions beneath the tide: A trait-based study of tropical intertidal macrobenthos.

Blood flukes cause serious health issues for farmed bluefin tuna worldwide. Their infection severity has been assessed by counting adult flukes in heart flushes. However, Cardicola orientalis adults reside in blood vessels in the gills. The aim of this study was to assess species composition, prevalence and intensity of adult blood fluke infection in gill blood vessels of ranched Southern Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus maccoyii. Based on molecular analysis, out of 41 adult blood flukes found in the gills of the tuna, 32 flukes were confirmed to be C. forsteri, while only 1 fluke was C. orientalis. There was a significant relationship between the number of adult C. forsteri in the heart and in the gills, with the heart having significantly greater prevalence. The presence of adult C. forsteri in the gills can cause blockage of the gill blood vessels and have a significant effect on the host. Furthermore, the presence of adult C. forsteri in gill blood vessels may have implications for the diagnosis of the infection and in particular identification of a negative host. The presence of adult C. forsteri in gill blood vessels should be recorded in the species description and considered when assessing the effects of this parasite on the host.

Spatial variability in the carbon stocks of different seagrass meadows of southern Palk Bay, India: Influence of species composition, sediment characteristics and restoration efforts.

Nitrate, water temperature, conductivity, and transparency drive littoral phytoplankton species composition and biovolume in two reservoirs in the Xingu river

Bryophytes disperse efficiently via wind-borne spores, yet long-distance transport alone does not guarantee successful establishment at the deposition site. Species-rich hotspots are expected to arise where a sustained regional diaspore supply coincides with a high diversity of suitable substrates, creating both safe sites for colonization and stepping-stone nodes for further dispersal. Here, we use the Ostrava Zoo, located in the core of a heavily industrialized city in the Moravian-Silesian region (Czech Republic), as a case study to examine how these processes shape bryophyte diversity in an urban landscape. Between 2021 and 2024, we recorded 129 bryophyte taxa (18 liverworts, 111 mosses) within the Zoo, a species richness comparable to that of nearby protected areas in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids. The assemblage includes several regionally rare taxa and a pronounced epiphytic component (38 epiphytic species), indicating both improved air quality and the importance of old, healthy tree stands. Analyses of species occurrence across habitat categories demonstrate that the exceptional diversity of the Zoo is underpinned by high substrate and microhabitat heterogeneity, spanning remnants of beech forest, wetlands, disturbed soils in animal enclosures and a wide range of artificial structures. Back-trajectory modelling of air masses during the main vegetation season further shows that prevailing winds frequently connect the Zoo with bryophyte-rich reserves in the Beskids, supporting the hypothesis that the Zoo functions as a recipient and secondary source of diaspores in a fragmented urban matrix. Our results highlight that large urban green areas such as zoological gardens can act as bryophyte refugia and stepping-stone sites of conservation importance within industrial regions.

The Eocene-Oligocene transition was the crucial turning point when Earth's climate shifted to its current icehouse state. Understanding how the marine biosphere responded during this transition is not well-constrained, appearing as a simple extinction pulse in low temporal resolution global compendia. Here we design an artificial-intelligence-inspired metaheuristics algorithm to construct a high-resolution global species richness history across the Eocene-Oligocene transition for the rich foraminifera fossil record with an imputed ~29,000-year resolution. The revealed diversity dynamics are complex and differ for each foraminiferal group with distinct ecology. Planktonic and shallow-water larger benthic foraminifera show steady diversity levels in the early phases of the transition in the latest Eocene after a long-term reduction, while the deeper-water small benthic foraminifera radiate notably and then decline over the same interval. In the earliest Oligocene, the planktonic and larger foraminifera suffer major species losses coincident with the first continental-scale ice sheet formed on Antarctica, while small benthic foraminifera diversity holds steady, followed by an accelerating lowering as the early Oligocene proceeds. These findings reveal complicated and ecologically differentiated environment-life processes, indicating the importance of high-resolution temporal data for dissecting out ecological responses to major environmental changes.

Abstract Mining activities have substantially altered Amazonian watercourses. Odonata are sensitive to environmental changes and efficient bioindicators because they are highly responsive to conditions in riparian and aquatic habitats. Therefore, our objectives were to assess the changes associated with a slurry pipeline on Amazonian streams and to determine whether those changes altered Odonata assemblage structure. We also sought to determine which environmental variables most influenced regional Odonata diversity and the degree to which those variables differed between pipeline and control sites. We collected 769 adult odonates from which we derived biodiversity variables (richness, abundance, composition) and measured 245 environmental variables in 48 stream sites located in the Belém endemic center, northeastern Amazonia. We found that the slurry pipeline altered the Amazonian stream environments, including changes in acidity and water speed. The main impacts identified were related to stream damming. These effects significantly affected Zygoptera abundances and Anisoptera species composition. We suggest that the moderate impacts highlighted probably reflect the history of widespread human exploitation in the region, which likely filtered out the more sensitive Zygoptera species. Consequently, the remaining communities exhibit only a weak response to the environmental differences detected in our study. Implications for insect conservation Our results show that slurry pipeline-associated infrastructure can alter Amazonian stream habitats by partially impounding and increasing sedimentation, reducing Zygoptera abundance and shifting Anisoptera community composition. We recommend limiting sediment inputs from access roads, improving hydrological monitoring, ensuring adequate culvert design and maintenance, and implementing long-term bioindicator monitoring to reduce cumulative losses of Amazonian freshwater diversity.

Regenerative agriculture can be deconstructed into several constituent practices, including adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing, improved biodiversity, silvopasture, and minimizing cultivation and synthetic fertilizer inputs. Here, using farms across a rainfall gradient, we examined how three constituents-pasture species composition, antecedent soil organic carbon (SOC) and AMP grazing-influenced SOC accrual, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, production and profitability. Whole-farm stocking rate and rainfall exerted a stronger influence on pasture production, SOC, GHG emissions and profit than pasture diversity or grazing management. Production was more strongly associated with individual pasture species, rather than species diversity per se. Notwithstanding carbon removals through increased SOC stocks, enteric methane remained the dominant source of farm GHG emissions. Low-intensity grazing with short rest periods was generally more profitable, whereas AMP grazing promoted greater pasture growth, SOC accrual and emissions abatement; AMP also performed more favourably when emissions, profit and productivity were considered together. Persistent trade-offs between economic and environmental outcomes indicate that grazing regimes delivering the greatest SOC accrual and GHG mitigation are not necessarily the most profitable, reinforcing the need to rationalize objectives when designing resilient, practical and low-emissions farming systems.

ABSTRACT Coastal embryonic dunes (habitat 2110) are highly dynamic ecosystems strongly affected by human trampling, which can alter vegetation structure, species composition, and successional trajectories. We investigated plant assemblages located along a gradient of progressive reduction in trampling disturbance in three coastal embryonic shifting dunes (EU habitat code: 2110; central Italy): from intensely trampled dunes (TD), to ‘lockdown’ dunes’, where trampling was interrupted by the 2020–2021 Covid lockdown (LD), to restored dunes where trampling was interrupted in 2017 (RD). We observed a progressive increase in plant species richness, diversity, evenness, and total cover along the gradient. The increase in plant cover was due to a set of dominant and active colonizer species, increasing specific cover and frequencies (Thinopyrum junceum, Xanthium italicum, Anthemis maritima, Sporobolus pungens). Interestingly, species richness increased while diversity and evenness decreased in intermediate disturbance conditions (LD), when allochthonous species and native colonizers co-occurred. Covid lockdown acted as a process stimulating passive restoration in embryonic dunes.

Aquaculture environments in tropical coastal regions are increasingly exposed to plastic debris, creating novel microbial habitats with the potential to disseminate antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). We deployed plastic substrates in situ for 21days at a coastal aquaculture site in Singapore, profiling substrate-attached prokaryotic communities using long-read environmental DNA sequencing. Polypropylene (PE) and polyethylene (PP) plastics supported distinct microbial assemblages that diverged over time and differed by polymer type, while seawater hosted greater overall species richness. Despite comparable alpha diversity, PE and PP biofilms demonstrated diverse taxonomic and functional gene profiles, with substrate-driven enrichment of metabolic pathways. Fifteen classes of ARGs were detected, with increased diversity and abundance on plastics, and ARG patterns were correlated with salinity, turbidity, and chlorophyll. This study provides the first long-read characterization of plastisphere biofilms and their associated ARGs in tropical aquaculture systems in Southeast Asia. These findings position aquaculture plastics as reservoirs for diverse prokaryotes and resistance genes, highlighting their ecological and food safety implications in tropical coastal systems.