Oxylipin signalling in a coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis - Andrea G. Gamba; Saki Harii; Frederic Sinniger; Clinton A. Oakley; Arthur R. Grossman; Virginia M. Weis; David J. Suggett; Simon K. Davy (Coral Reefs, 2025)
The symbiotic relationship of cnidarians with dinoflagellates of the family Symbiodiniaceae is based on host-symbiont recognition processes and continuous molecular exchange between partners. However, the molecular signals involved are unresolved. Oxylipin signalling plays a pivotal role in mediating various cellular processes, including inflammation and molecular signalling. Its function in the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, including its potential role in inter-partner molecular communication, remains unclear. Here, prostaglandin EP2 receptors 2 (EP2) and 4 (EP4) were localised and quantified using immunohistochemistry in the tissues of the coral Acropora sp. aff. tenuis . Both coral larvae and polyps of juvenile colonies were examined when in symbiosis with one of their two native dinoflagellate symbionts, Cladocopium goreaui and Durusdinium trenchii , during early (3 days) and later (30 days) stages of symbiosis establishment (relative to aposymbiotic corals). EP2 and EP4 were present in both the gastrodermis and epidermis of larvae and polyps, regardless of their symbiotic state. Abundance of EP2 and EP4 was affected by symbiotic state, symbiont identity, coral life-stage, and the age of the symbiosis. Specifically, D. trenchii , but not C. goreaui , decreased host EP2 levels in larvae and polyps, and EP4 levels in coral polyps. Conversely, C. goreaui , but not D. trenchii , decreased EP4 levels in coral larvae. This research enhances our understanding of oxylipin pathway regulation in the coral-dinoflagellate symbiosis across various life-stages, and in response to different symbiont species, laying the groundwork for deeper exploration into the molecular signalling mechanisms that underlie this symbiosis and the influence of coral metamorphosis on these mechanisms.

Light intensity modulates the effect of thermal stress on giant clams and their symbiotic zooxanthellae - Vaihiti Teaniniuraitemoana; Cristián J. Monaco; Marion Célariès; Thierry Jauffrais; Simon Van Wynsberge (Coral Reefs, 2025)

Environmental and Geographic Conditions on the Breeding Grounds Drive Bergmannian Clines in Nightjars - Aaron A. Skinner; Alicia M. Korpach; Susanne Åkesson; Marja H. Bakermans; Erin M. Bayne; Thomas J. Benson; Giovanni Boano; R. Mark Brigham; Simon S. Christiansen; Greg J. Conway; Christina M. Davy; Ruben Evens; et al. (Journal of Biogeography, 2025)
Aim To evaluate (1) whether three migratory nightjar species (Family Caprimulgidae) adhere to Bergmann's rule, (2) whether environmental factors on the breeding or wintering grounds determine body size, and (3) which mechanistic hypotheses best explain Bergmannian patterns in body size. Location North and South America; Europe and Africa. Taxon Eastern whip‐poor‐will ( Antrostomus vociferus ), Common nighthawk ( Chordeiles minor ) and European nightjar ( Caprimulgus europaeus ). Methods We used GPS tracking and morphometric data to assess competing hypotheses explaining variation in body size for each species, based on their breeding ( n = 3388) and wintering ( n = 189) locations. Results All three species exhibited Bergmannian patterns in body size, providing the first evidence that nightjars conform to Bergmann's rule despite adaptations to severe environmental conditions. Environmental and geographic variables at breeding sites were stronger predictors of body size than wintering‐site variables. Although we found partial support for Bergmann's temperature regulation hypothesis, geographic variables, rather than specific environmental factors, emerged as the strongest predictors of body size variation. Main Conclusions Latitude and longitude correlated strongly with environmental variables and migratory distance; thus, these geographical variables likely encompass many factors that influence body size in nightjars. The present study is among the first to use tracking data from individual birds to understand how environmental pressures across the annual cycle are related to body size. Our findings highlight the critical role of geographic breeding‐ground factors in shaping Bergmannian patterns, offering robust evidence to support nearly two centuries of research since Bergmann's rule was first described in 1847.

A Framework for Dynamic Assessment of Terrestrial Ecosystem Condition - Jinyan Yang; Yiqing Guo; Christopher J. Owers; Kate Giljohann; Roozbeh Valavi; Randall Donohue; Kristen J. Williams; Simon Ferrier; Karel Mokany (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2025)
Aim The condition of terrestrial ecosystems (i.e., structure, function and composition) has been altered by increasing human pressure globally, affecting biodiversity and the sustainability of services that ecosystems provide. Effective conservation and restoration decisions will be supported by a continuous global fine‐scale assessment of changes in ecosystem condition over time. Innovation We developed a framework to provide annual ecosystem condition assessment based on remotely sensed ecosystem condition variables. Our conceptually simple approach compares the ecosystem variables of a target site to training sites with known condition. The comparison yields an ecosystem condition score as the similarity to the training sites. This framework provides a way to identify the temporal change in ecosystem condition while accommodating the natural dynamics of ecosystems and the spatial change from alternative natural states of ecosystems. Main Conclusions As a case study, we mapped annual ecosystem condition across Australia from 2013 to 2022, using Landsat‐derived condition variables at 100 m resolution. Our approach estimated ecosystem condition with high accuracy (RMSE = 0.23), which remained consistent along large environmental gradients. When evaluated against independent field‐based observations and other condition maps, our approach showed high agreement and identified the trajectories of ecosystem condition over time for sites with known changes. The case study suggests our approach is a useful tool to assess and monitor annual changes in ecosystem condition at continental scales. Our maps provide the information needed for assessing long‐term anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem condition and to support policy, planning and management decisions.

Solar Farms as Potential Future Refuges for Bumblebees - Hollie Blaydes; Emma Gardner; J. Duncan Whyatt; Simon G. Potts; Robert Dunford‐Brown; John W. Redhead; Alona Armstrong (Global Change Biology, 2025)
Solar farms offer an opportunity for habitat creation for wildlife, including insect pollinators, potentially simultaneously contributing to both low‐carbon energy and nature recovery. However, it is unknown whether cobenefits would persist under future land‐use change given that habitat value is context dependent. For the 1042 operational solar farms in Great Britain, we predict their ability to support bumblebee populations (both inside and outside the solar farm) under three different socioeconomic futures. These futures represent alternative 1 km scale landcover projections for the year 2050 with accompanying narratives. We downscale these to 10 m resolution, spatially allocating crop rotations, agri‐environment interventions and other habitat features consistent with the scenario narratives, to realistically represent fine‐scale landscape elements of relevance to bumblebee populations. We then input these detailed maps into a sophisticated process‐based model that simulates bumblebee foraging and population dynamics, enabling us to predict bumblebee density in and around Great Britain's solar farms, accounting for the effects of their changed habitat context and configuration in these different future scenarios. We isolate the drivers of bumblebee density change across scenarios and scales and show that solar farm management was the main driver of bumblebee density within solar farms, with ~120% higher densities inside florally enhanced compared to turf grass solar farms, although the exact figure was influenced by wider landcover changes. In foraging zones immediately surrounding solar farms, landscape changes had a greater impact on bumblebee densities, suggesting a single solar farm in isolation generally did not counteract the influence of wider land‐use changes expected under future scenarios. In addition to providing insights into the potential future value of pollinator habitat on solar farms, our methodology demonstrates how combining process‐based modelling with landcover projections that are downscaled to ecologically relevant resolutions can be used to better assess future effectiveness of habitat interventions. This represents a step change in our ability to account for species' interactions with socioeconomically driven futures, which can be extended and applied to other taxa and land‐use interventions.

Illegal artisanal longline use in the Galapagos Marine Reserve characterized through monitoring and control data - Andres Romero-Caicedo; Paola Buitron-Lopez; Andres Tapia-Jaramillo; Simon J. McKinley; Edwin Castro-Briones; Gonzalo Sevilla-Cedeño; John Ronquillo-Garzon; Gabriel Maciel de Souza Vianna (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2025)
Illegal longline fishing in the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) represents a socioecological issue with significant impact on protected marine species. This study characterizes the use of illegal longlines in the GMR by combining and analyzing datasets generated from monitoring and control operations by the Galapagos National Park Directorate. We explored temporal and spatial patterns of longline detections, identified impacted species, and estimated compliance of vessels associated with longlines. The number of longlines detected varied across years but no clear seasonal pattern was evident. The most frequently captured species taxa were sharks and rays, including critically endangered scalloped hammerheads ( Sphyrna lewini ) and endangered manta rays ( Mobula birostris ). The critically endangered waved albatrosses ( Phoebastria irrorata ), as well as green turtles ( Chelonia mydas ), were also captured. Longline fishing occurred frequently in the submarine canyon south of Isabela Island, the seamount east of Santa Cruz Island, and waters between Pinzon, Isabela, and Santiago Islands, which are areas of high primary productivity and popular fishing grounds. Longlines were also frequently recorded near Darwin and Wolf Islands, a regionally-important hotspot for shark conservation. Offending vessels associated with longlines represented 17% of the artisanal fleet targeting pelagic fish species and were responsible for approximately 30% of pelagic fish landings. Notably, 80% of the fishing trips by the offending vessels when longlines were recorded had no associated fisheries landing recorded. Offending vessels had their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) deactivated, in 69% of the fishing trips when illegal longlines were recorded, despite their use being mandatory by law. These findings provide baseline data to assist managers of the GMR to improve enforcement effort allocation and underscore the importance of strengthening surveillance and enforcement efforts to mitigate illegal fishing activities.

Quantitative insights into the spatio‐temporal variation of Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) biomass in a river catchment using eDNA metabarcoding - William Bernard Perry; Nigel Milner; Ifan Bryn Jâms; Mark de Bruyn; Steve J. Ormerod; Kristy Deiner; Holly M. Bik; Gary Carvalho; John Colbourne; Bernard Jack Cosby; Isabelle Durance; Simon Creer (Journal of Fish Biology, 2025)
Effective species conservation and management requires comprehensive biomonitoring, enhanced by combining traditional and newer methodologies, such as environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses. A seasonal pulse of spawning adult Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ) was detected by normalised eDNA 12S reads from metabarcoding, which facilitated estimation of spatial patterns in salmon biomass. A strong relationship was found between normalised reads in the lower section of the River Conwy (Wales, UK) and whole‐river adult biomass (estimated from rod catch data and a fish counter), explaining 61% of the variation in a linear regression. Moreover, the positive linear relationship between adult biomass and partial effect on normalised reads occurred after the biomass estimate exceeded 1500 kg, indicating a threshold where normalised reads become representative of biomass. The relationship observed between normalised reads and biomass, as well as the unique profiles of normalised reads at each of the sites, supports the hypothesis of limited eDNA transport among sampling sites that were 2–4 km apart. River pH showed a significant non‐linear relationship with normalised reads, with a peak in partial effect on normalised reads at pH 6.5. Partial effect on normalised reads also showed a positive linear relationship with flow (discharge), while also peaking at the highest average monthly air temperatures (14°C). These trends are contrary to what would be expected from eDNA decay, dilution or transport, demonstrating that metabarcoding is robust to such influences, reinforcing the interpretation of trends driven by Atlantic salmon ecology and physiology. For example, pH effects reflect beneficial conditions for eggs and perhaps habitat preference for spawners, flow effects reflect the annual return of salmon during higher flows which aid upstream migration, tributary entry and spawning, and, finally, temperature effects reflect higher metabolic rates and greater shedding of eDNA.

“Wood-lover paralysis”: Describing a toxidrome with symptoms of weakness caused by some lignicolous “wood-loving” Psilocybe mushrooms - Simon A. Beck; Caine Barlow; Liam Engel; Monica J. Barratt (Toxicon, 2025)

Linking measurable and conceptual phosphorus pools (in APSIM) enables quantitative model initialisation - Yunru Lai; Jonathan J. Ojeda; Simon Clarendon; Nathan Robinson; Enli Wang; Keith G. Pembleton (Soil and Tillage Research, 2025)

Deciphering the energy use channels in soil organic Matter: Impacts of long-term manure addition and necromass revealed by LC-FT-ICR-MS - Konstantin Stumpf; Carsten Simon; Anja Miltner; Thomas Maskow; Oliver J. Lechtenfeld (Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 2025)

HESI GTTC ring trial: Concordance between Ames and rodent carcinogenicity outcomes for N-nitrosamines (NAs) with rat and hamster metabolic conditions - Joel Bercu; Alejandra Trejo-Martin; Connie Chen; Maik Schuler; Jennifer Cheung; Tetyana Cheairs; Anthony M. Lynch; Dean Thomas; Andreas Czich; Aisar Atrakchi; Timothy J. McGovern; Robert H. Heflich; et al. (Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 2025)

Malnutrition Risk Among the 2022 National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants: A Cross-Sectional Study - Jaime J. Gahche; Lydia McGrath; Shirley Chao; Judy Simon; Laura Borth; Mary Beth Arensberg; Johanna T. Dwyer (Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2025)

Controls on uranium isotope fractionation in the late Paleoproterozoic ocean - Alexandra Kunert; Simon W. Poulton; Donald E. Canfield; Philip W. Fralick; Geoffrey J. Gilleaudeau; Brian Kendall (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2025)

A novel biomarker for deep-time methanogenesis – perspectives from nickel isotope fractionation in modern microbialites - Simon V. Hohl; Xiaopeng Bian; Sebastian Viehmann; Shun-Chung Yang; Robert J. Raad; Patrick Meister; Seth G. John (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2025)

Unravelling the pedogenetic development of forest soils in Northern Patagonia, Argentina - Alois Simon; Ernesto J. Reiter; Franz Zehetner; María Florencia Urretavizcaya; Virginia Alonso; Gabriel A. Loguercio; Franz Ottner; Helge Walentowski (CATENA, 2025)

Multigenerational effects of metals accumulate over three generations in the amphibian-killing fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) - Milad Esmaeilbeigi; Richard P. Duncan; Simon Clulow; Tariq Ezaz; Ben J. Kefford (Aquatic Toxicology, 2025)

Asymmetric nanocapsules via elongated liposome templated polymerization (ELTP) mediated by RAFT polymerization - Yunxin Xiao; Alexander W. Jackson; Angel Tan; John F. Quinn; Simon Crawford; Ben J. Boyd (Drug Delivery and Translational Research, 2025)
Polymeric nanocapsules comprised of hydrophobic shells and hollow aqueous interiors are an extremely useful class of nanomaterial, particularly in the encapsulation and controlled delivery of hydrophilic cargo. Generally prepared via droplet or latex templation approaches, polymeric nanocapsules are mostly spherical. Controlling the morphology of hollow nanocapsules is an intriguing design challenge. Non-spherical, or elongated, templates are often inorganic materials which do not directly impart a hollow interior, and their post-polymerization removal is not straightforward. This study outlines a novel strategy for the preparation of elongated nanocapsules, wherein elongated liposomes are deployed as hollow templates. Initially, ciprofloxacin drug nanocrystals were utilized to facilitate the formation of elongated liposomes, followed by adsorption of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) oligomers. Subsequent chain-extension polymerization furnished the desired elongated nanocapsule morphology. This proof-of-concept study contributes towards the goal of elongated nanocapsule synthesis, a morphology which can impart improved circulation times in the field of drug delivery. Graphical Abstract

Mineralogical Controls on Acid Mine Drainage from Tailings in Arequipa, Peru - Isaac J. P. Simon; Katharina Pfaff; James Ranville; Madeleine N. Guillen Gomez; Sergio Ticona-Corrales; Elizabeth Holley (Mine Water and the Environment, 2025)

Mapping of small scale surface water in Denmark – using deep learning, fusing high resolution geo data and Sentinel-1 SAR - Simon J. Köhn; Ana C.M. Fernandes; Casper S. Fibæk; Karina Nielsen (Advances in Space Research, 2025)

Quantifying placebo and trial participation effects on cognitive outcome measures in aging dogs - Katherine E. Simon; Katharine Russell; Alejandra Mondino; Chin-Chieh Yang; Beth C. Case; Zachary Anderson; Christine Whitley; Emily Griffith; Margaret E. Gruen; Natasha J. Olby (GeroScience, 2025)
The placebo effect, or the positive effects observed after an inert treatment which result from patients’ expectations for the therapy, is well documented in human medicine. However, in veterinary medicine, where owner’s expectations serve as a proxy for their pets, it remains underexplored, particularly for elderly dogs with cognitive decline. To address this gap, we examined 21 dogs (mean age: 12.85 years, SD: 1.46) from a placebo group in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and compared their results to 17 dogs (mean age: 13.24 years, SD:1.56) from an observational, longitudinal study to distinguish placebo effect from trial participation effect. Both populations had statistically comparable baseline data. Cognitive changes were evaluated with two remotely administered owner questionnaires (Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Scale (CCDR) and Canine Dementia Scale (CADES)) and three in-house cognitive assessments (Cylinder Task, Detour and Sustained Gaze). We hypothesized that placebo effect would be greater than trial participation effect, particularly in owner-reported measures. Matched pairs T -tests and effect size calculations (Hedge’s g ) were used to calculate changes across 6 months. A strong ( g = 0.76), significant ( p = 0.021) improvement in CADES was observed in the placebo cohort after 6 months, while no changes were detected with CCDR. Conversely, the observational cohort showed a small ( g = 0.35) and significant ( p = 0.03) deterioration on CCDR, and no change in CADES. No significant changes were noted on the in-house cognitive assessments in either cohort. We conclude that study context influences remotely delivered owner assessments and CCDR is more robust against caregiver placebo effect in RCTs than CADES.

Jesstimation: A novel approach for estimating more accurate fish ages from otolith zone counts and measurements - Jessica H. Farley; J. Paige Eveson; Kyne Krusic-Golub; Naomi P. Clear; Caroline Sanchez; Simon J. Nicol (Fisheries Research, 2025)

Global evaluation of high-resolution ECOSTRESS land surface temperature and emissivity products: Collection 1 versus Collection 2 - Huanyu Zhang; Amber N. Mahmood; Tian Hu; Kanishka Mallick; Yoanne Didry; Patrik Hitzelberger; Zoltan Szantoi; Lluís Pérez-Planells; Frank M. Göttsche; Glynn C. Hulley; Simon J. Hook (Remote Sensing of Environment, 2025)

Evidence for mixing of migrated hydrocarbons and indigenous organic matter in the Paleocene deepest core in IODP Expedition 378 Hole U1553D, Campbell Plateau, New Zealand - Simon C. George; Lian Jiang; Blanca Ausín; Eleni Anagnostou; Ann G. Dunlea; Laurel B. Childress; Ursula Röhl; Deborah J. Thomas (Marine Geology, 2025)

Deep learning and machine learning enable broad-scale woodland height, cover, and biomass mapping - Michael J. Campbell; Jessie F. Eastburn; Simon C. Brewer; Philip E. Dennison (ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2025)

Recent Results on Science and Innovation Related to Electrical Processes of Thunderstorms - Christoph Köhn; Torsten Neubert; Martin Füllekrug; Ute Ebert; Sander Nijdam; Olivier Chanrion; Nikolai Østgaard; Martino Marisaldi; Serge Soula; Joan Montanyà; Francisco Gordillo-Vázquez; Alejandro Luque; et al. (Surveys in Geophysics, 2025)

Recent progress in probing small molecule interactions with DNA - Simon Poole; Bríonna McGorman; Christine J. Cardin; Andrew Kellett (Biophysical Reviews, 2025)
Nucleic acids are primary therapeutic targets, and understanding drug-DNA interactions is essential to the discovery of new clinical agents. In recent years, the desire to develop therapies with specific biological targets has produced new molecules that preferentially interact with complex nucleic acid sequences and structures. As such, the targeting of non-canonical nucleic acids, including DNA triplexes, G-quadruplexes, i-motifs, three-way junctions and Holliday junctions, have emerged due to their roles in gene regulation, genome stability and cellular stress responses. Characterising the interactions of these non-canonical structures with new ligands and metal complexes has led to the discovery of promising agents with therapeutic potential. Biophysical techniques including spectroscopic methods, crystallography and biomolecular assays have been critical to probing these interactions. This review describes recent advancements in the analysis of higher-order drug-DNA interactions for the rational design of targeted therapeutics.

Selection on genome‐wide gene expression plasticity of rice in wet and dry field environments - Elena Hamann; Simon C. Groen; Taryn S. Dunivant; Irina Ćalić; Colleen Cochran; Rachel Konshok; Michael D. Purugganan; Steven J. Franks (Molecular Ecology, 2025)
Gene expression can be highly plastic in response to environmental variation. However, we know little about how expression plasticity is shaped by natural selection and evolves in wild and domesticated species. We used genotypic selection analysis to characterize selection on drought‐induced plasticity of over 7,500 leaf transcripts of 118 rice accessions (genotypes) from different environmental conditions grown in a field experiment. Gene expression plasticity was neutral for most gradually plastic transcripts, but transcripts with discrete patterns of expression showed stronger selection on expression plasticity. Whether plasticity was adaptive and co‐gradient or maladaptive and counter‐gradient varied among varietal groups. No transcripts that experienced selection for plasticity across environments showed selection against plasticity within environments, indicating a lack of evidence for costs of adaptive plasticity that may constrain its evolution. Selection on expression plasticity was influenced by degree of plasticity, transcript length and gene body methylation. We observed positive selection on plasticity of co‐expression modules containing transcripts involved in photosynthesis, translation and responsiveness to abiotic stress. Taken together, these results indicate that patterns of selection on expression plasticity were context‐dependent and likely associated with environmental conditions of varietal groups, but that the evolution of adaptive plasticity would likely not be constrained by opposing patterns of selection on plasticity within compared to across environments. These results offer a genome‐wide view of patterns of selection and ecological constraints on gene expression plasticity and provide insights into the interplay between plastic and evolutionary responses to drought at the molecular level.

Forest Topsoil Organic Carbon Declines Under Ash Dieback - Fiona M. Seaton; David A. Robinson; Claire M. Wood; Clare M. H. Benskin; Rebecca L. Rowe; Karen Hornigold; Keith J. Kirby; Chris Nichols; Simon M. Smart (Global Change Biology, 2025)
Tree diseases are increasingly affecting woodland ecosystems across the world. However, the impact of these diseases upon the soil, and in particular soil carbon, is still poorly understood. Here we present the results of a field survey of ~100 woodlands across Great Britain measured in 1971, 2001 and 2022 and evaluate the fifty‐year trend in topsoil (0–15 cm) carbon based upon measurements of soil organic matter (SOM) and the impact of Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (ash dieback). To better represent the full SOM distribution, including the extremely high SOM measurements, we adopt a Beta mixture modelling approach within a Bayesian framework. Across all woodlands, comprising ~1,500 plots per survey, average SOM remained constant across the fifty‐year time series. However, the 311 plots with ash dieback had lower SOM in the most recent survey compared to the 328 plots with ash trees present but no dieback recorded, due to a slight decline in SOM under ash dieback. This resulted in plots with ash dieback having a modelled mean SOM of 12.2% compared to 13.4% in plots without ash dieback, a difference of 1.23 percentage points (95% CI 0.25–2.21). Ash dieback was more likely to be recorded in plots that had higher soil pH pre‐ash dieback invasion, but the decline in SOM under ash dieback was not explained by changes in soil pH or changes in the ground flora composition. Converting our results to soil C and extrapolating for broadleaved woodland across the entirety of Great Britain, the total amount of topsoil carbon lost to date due to ash dieback could be 6 MtCO 2 (± 4 s.d.). Our results show the importance of understanding the impacts of tree disease when considering current and future woodland carbon dynamics.

Pollinator‐Promoting Interventions in European Urban Habitats—A Synthesis - Gabriella Süle; András Báldi; David Kleijn; Ingolf Steffan‐Dewenter; Stephen Venn; Dave Goulson; Simon Dietzel; Audrey Muratet; Lorna J. Cole; Erik Öckinger; Olga Tzortzakaki; Weronika Banaszak‐Cibicka; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2025)
Pollinators receive considerable interest due to their fundamental role in ecosystem functioning and human well‐being. Unlike farmlands, studies of urban pollinator‐promoting interventions are scarce and have not been synthesised, hampering policy implementation. To fill this gap, we compared pollinator‐promoting interventions (treatment) with conventionally managed (control) sites regarding vegetation, floral resources, and pollinators. Our synthesis investigated 1051 sampling sites with different interventions (abandonment, extensive mowing, flower sowing, and combined practices) and habitats (parks, grasslands, road verges, private and public gardens) from 28 European datasets at pooled‐ and study‐levels. Urban pollinator‐promoting interventions generally benefited plants and pollinators with taxon, intervention, habitat, and spatio‐temporal specific differences. Pooled analyses showed mostly positive and never negative treatment effects, while study‐level details described primarily positive and neutral but rarely negative effects. Bumblebees and butterflies benefited most from the interventions. Some effects were stronger for interventions involving flower sowing, interventions occurring in road verges, and interventions located in Northwestern Europe. Although regulations, guidelines, and monitoring are improving, knowledge gaps remain for some pollinator taxa (e.g., beetles), regions (e.g., Mediterranean), and novel interventions (e.g., for ground‐nesting insects). Further collaborative studies from around the world could help cities bring people, plants, and pollinators together by creating resilient, multi‐functional urban spaces.

Understanding and Predicting Population Response to Anthropogenic Disturbance: Current Approaches and Novel Opportunities - Cassie N. Speakman; Sarah Bull; Sarah Cubaynes; Katrina J. Davis; Sébastien Devillard; John M. Fryxell; Cara A. Gallagher; Elizabeth A. McHuron; Kévan Rastello; Isabel M. Smallegange; Roberto Salguero‐Gómez; Elsa Bonnaud; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2025)
Effective conservation of biodiversity depends on the successful management of wildlife populations and their habitats. Successful management, in turn, depends on our ability to understand and accurately forecast how populations and communities respond to human‐induced changes in their environments. However, quantifying how these stressors impact population dynamics remains challenging. Another significant hurdle at this interface is determining which quantitative approach(es) are most appropriate given data types, constraints and the intended purpose. Here, we provide a cross‐taxa overview of key methodological approaches (e.g., matrix population models) and model elements (e.g., energetics) that are currently used to model the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on wildlife populations. Specifically, we discuss how these modelling approaches differ in their key assumptions, in their structure and complexity, in the questions they are best poised to address and in their data requirements. Our intention is to help overcome some of the methodological biases that might persist across taxonomic specialisations, identify new opportunities to address existing modelling challenges and improve scientific understanding of the direct and indirect impacts of anthropogenic disturbance. We guide users through the identification of appropriate model configurations for different management purposes, while also suggesting key priorities for model development and integration.

Comparing the modulatory effect of fennel powder and fennel extract nanoparticles on growth, immunity and histopathological changes of Nile tilapia - Shaimaa A.A. Ahmed; Abdelhakeem El-Murr; Yasser Abd Elhakim; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Simon J. Davies; Mohamed M. Metwally; Amany Abd El Aziz Gharib; Enas N.M. Khalil (Aquaculture, 2025)

Cranial vault thickness, its internal organization, and its relationship with endocranial shape in Neanderthals and modern humans - Sélim Natahi; Simon Neubauer; Zewdi J. Tsegai; Jean-Jacques Hublin; Philipp Gunz (Journal of Human Evolution, 2025)

Using radioactive waste for targeted alpha therapy: Advancing a sovereign Australian supply of 225Ac and 212Pb - Grant B. Douglas; Darren J. Koppel; Tom Cresswell; Simon Puttick; John Phalen (Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2025)

Corrigendum to “Role of nutrition-sensitive agriculture in enhancing sustainable humanitarian assistance: Evidence from orange-fleshed sweetpotato interventions in Kenya” [Food Policy 132 (2025) 102834] - Chalmers K. Mulwa; Fred Grant; Marcel Gatto; Mukani Moyo; Dorcas Amunga; Norman Kwikiriza; Jack Malit; Julius J. Okello; Joyce Maru; Hugo Campos; Simon Heck (Food Policy, 2025)

Response of submerged aquatic vegetation seascapes to a large-scale seagrass die-off: A case study in Florida Bay - Jonathan R. Rodemann; W. Ryan James; Jennifer S. Rehage; Bradley T. Furman; Simon J. Pittman; Rolando O. Santos (Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 2025)

Heightened extinction risk due to tropical cyclones in insular biodiversity hotspots - Simon Valle; David J. Pereira; Thomas J. Matthews; Thomas E. Martin (Biological Conservation, 2025)

Vehicle collisions and visitor disturbance reduce survival and reproductive success of kangaroos in a national park - Kelly Forrester; Rachel Bergeron; Simon Coroller-Chouraki; David M. Forsyth; Marco Festa-Bianchet; Wendy J. King (Biological Conservation, 2025)

Restoration of Salt Marshes After Depolderization in Western France: A Vegetation Heterogeneity-Based Study - M. Salgueiro-Simon; J. Abadie; X. Dauvergne; S. Gallet (Estuaries and Coasts, 2025)

High-precision light curves of geostationary objects: The PHANTOM ECHOES 2 RPO campaign - Paul Chote; Robert Airey; James McCormac; Don Pollacco; Richard West; Krzysztof Ulaczyk; Martin J. Dyer; Alexander Agathanggelou; William Feline; Simon George; Calum Meredith; Grant Privett (Advances in Space Research, 2025)

Range‐Wide Genomic Analysis Reveals Regional and Meta‐Population Dynamics of Decline and Recovery in the Grey Seal - Morgan L. McCarthy; Kristina M. Cammen; Sandra M. Granquist; Rune Dietz; Jonas Teilmann; Charlotte Bie Thøstesen; Simon Kjeldgaard; Mia Valtonen; Mervi Kunnasranta; Bjørn Munro Jenssen; Markus P. Ahola; Britt‐Marie Bäcklin; et al. (Molecular Ecology, 2025)
Wildlife populations globally have experienced widespread historical declines due to anthropogenic and environmental impacts, yet for some species, contemporary management and conservation programmes have enabled recent recovery. The impacts of decline and recovery on genomic diversity and, vice versa, the genetic factors that contribute to conservation success or failure are rich areas for inquiry, with implications for shaping how we manage species into the future. To comprehensively characterise these processes in natural systems requires range‐wide sampling and international collaboration, particularly for species with wide dispersal capabilities, broad geographic distributions, and complex regional metapopulation dynamics. Here, we present the first range‐ and genome‐wide population genomic analysis of grey seals based on 3812 nuclear SNPs genotyped in 188 samples from 17 localities. Our analyses support the existence of three main grey seal populations centred in the NW Atlantic, NE Atlantic and Baltic Sea, and point to the existence of previously unrecognised substructure within the NE Atlantic. We detected remarkably low levels of genetic diversity in the NW Atlantic population, and demographic analyses revealed a turbulent history of NE Atlantic and Baltic Sea grey seals, with bottlenecks in the Middle Ages and the 20th century due to hunting and habitat alterations. We found some localities deviated from isolation by distance patterns, likely reflecting wide‐scale metapopulation dynamics associated with recolonisation and recovery in regions where they were historically extirpated. We identify at least six grey seal genetic populations and reveal marked genetic effects of past declines and recent recovery across the species' range.

Decreasing Stem Growth in Common European Tree Species Despite Earlier Growth Onset - Arun K. Bose; Sophia Etzold; Katrin Meusburger; Arthur Gessler; Andri Baltensweiler; Sabine Braun; Nina Buchmann; J. Julio Camarero; Matthias Haeni; Ansgar Kahmen; Richard L. Peters; Frank J. Sterck; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2025)
Recent findings suggest that global warming is altering the timing of trees' phenological activities, including earlier emergence from winter dormancy. While early‐season warming can boost carbon uptake, tree growth does not seem to benefit. The underlying mechanisms and the altered intra‐ and inter‐annual growth dynamics, as well as their interaction with environmental factors, remain poorly understood. We analysed daily‐resolved dendrometer data from 228 trees across 48 Swiss forest sites over 2012–2022 to examine stem radial growth timing, intra‐ and inter‐annual dynamics, and environmental controls for five tree species. Our results showed that higher winter and spring temperatures induced an earlier accomplishment of annual growth—indicating earlier growth start—but did not increase the total annual growth in any of the species studied. In contrast, we found a significant negative growth trend for P. abies , A. alba , and F. sylvatica across a wide climatic gradient. The reduction in growth was associated with the decrease in the number of days with growth. The positive effect of higher temperatures in spring was canceled out by a negative effect towards the end of the growth period. Overall, such a negative effect of increased temperature at an annual scale was strongest in P. sylvestris and persisted over 2012–2022. The effect size of temperature was larger in explaining weekly growth compared to the effect sizes of precipitation or of soil water potential. This indicates that temperature, as an integrating indicator of growing conditions, can capture the variability of growth on a weekly time scale, which is less the case on a daily or hourly resolution. Overall, our results challenge the expectation that climate warming will offset carbon losses caused by heat and drought with a longer growing season. Our findings from five of the most common tree species in Central Europe do not support this assumption.

Consistent Unimodal Body Length Distributions in Hundreds of Reef Fishes Across Diverse Life Histories - Freddie J. Heather; Shane A. Richards; Nils C. Krueck; Rick D. Stuart‐Smith; Simon J. Brandl; Jordan M. Casey; Graham J. Edgar; Neville Barrett; Valeriano Parravicini; Asta Audzijonyte (Fish and Fisheries, 2025)
Animal body size distributions result from interactions of growth, mortality and recruitment. In ecology and fisheries science, theoretical models of fish body size distributions are widely used but rely on life‐history parameters—growth coefficient (K) and natural mortality rate (M)—that remain unknown for most species and are challenging to estimate. Analysing data from underwater visual surveys and exhaustive sampling, representing 3068 populations across 797 species of shallow‐water, mostly unfished marine fishes, we demonstrate that post‐recruitment body length distributions exhibit a consistent unimodal shape across species and populations. When scaled to the mean body length, these distributions are strikingly similar across all teleost and elasmobranch species, with diverse life histories and maximum body sizes ranging from 1 cm to 3 m. Observed size structure can be approximated by a truncated normal distribution with a coefficient of variation of ~0.34 (SE = 0.002). Such consistent observed body size distributions could be aligned with Beverton–Holt population dynamics theory, if assuming an M/K ratio of ~1.5 and logistic observational selectivity with 50% detectability at ~40% of maximum body length. Alternatively, observed distributions could reflect deviations from theoretical expectations, and reconciling the unimodal distributions with theory may require relaxing some model assumptions, such as continuous recruitment, constant density‐independent growth or constant natural mortality. Overall, the consistency of population‐ and species‐level body length distributions means that unfished size structure could be predicted from a single body size parameter. It also suggests evolutionary convergence of diverse growth and mortality processes towards a narrow range of viable outcomes.

Assessment of heavy metal pollution from flooded rice farms in Hadejia LGA of Jigawa State Nigeria: an impact of climate change - J. Simon; E. A. Ibanga; E. P. Inyang; H. G. Kama; K. O. Momoh; S. Bello; A. G. Yisa (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2025)

Whale shark residency and small-scale movements around oil and gas platforms in Qatar - Steffen S. Bach; David P. Robinson; Mohammed Y. Al Jaidah; Simon J. Pierce; Prasad Thoppil; Christoph A. Rohner (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2025)
Whale sharks seasonally aggregate near oil and gas platforms in Qatar to feed on fish spawn, creating one of the world’s largest aggregations of the species. We used passive acoustic telemetry to examine their fine-scale movements, residency, and seasonality and investigate whether the platforms influence their space use in this area. Tags had a mean retention of 161 ± 186 days (standard deviation, SD) and 32 of the 117 tags were recorded in multiple years in the acoustic array (21 stations). Most detections were recorded from May to September, confirming that this whale shark aggregation is seasonal. Whale sharks stayed up to 77 consecutive days in the array (mean = 16 ± 12.51 days) and had a mean residency index R max of 0.31. Although most detections (65%) were made at a single receiver located near a platform, here designated P1, an ‘open water’ receiver near this location also had a high proportion of total detections (8.5%). Receivers at other platforms, located away from this specific site, had relatively few detections. The distance from P1, identified as the center of the aggregation, was the main explanatory variable in a GAM. Whale shark aggregations were routinely observed feeding on tuna spawn at the surface at this location, with the eggs (and hence whale sharks) moving with the current through the day, and moving through the array as they did so. Whale sharks then swam against the current in the late afternoon and at night to relocate back to near the presumed tuna spawning site, close to P1, again in the early morning. Rather than being generally associated with platforms, whale sharks were clearly associated with a specific feeding location close to P1. Our results highlight the importance of this small feeding area for whale sharks, which face a high threat level in the region.

Territorial movements of African lions: can waterholes shape multiple central-place territories in a savannah ecosystem? - Romain Dejeante; Andrew J. Loveridge; David W. Macdonald; Daphine Madhlamoto; Simon Chamaillé-Jammes; Marion Valeix (Animal Behaviour, 2025)

Evaluating public exposure to airborne particulates from major incident fires: A back trajectory plume modelling approach - Simon D. Griffiths; Helen M. King; Justine Wilkinson; Frank J. Kelly; Jane A. Entwistle; Michael E. Deary (Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2025)

Protected areas as hotspots of wildfire activity in fire-prone Temperate and Mediterranean biomes - Víctor Resco de Dios; Simon J. Schütze; Àngel Cunill Camprubí; Rodrigo Balaguer-Romano; Matthias M. Boer; Paulo M. Fernandes (Journal of Environmental Management, 2025)

Indoor air sampling for detection of viral nucleic acids - Lennart J. Justen; Simon L. Grimm; Kevin M. Esvelt; William J. Bradshaw (Journal of Aerosol Science, 2025)

Behavioral and neurological responses of Oreochromis niloticus to chronic cyclic hypoxia: mechanistic insights into hypoxia-responsive genes, pro-inflammatory and apoptotic pathways: role of camel whey protein hydrolysate - Amany Abdel-Rahman Mohamed; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Rowida E. Ibrahim; Tarek Khamis; Ali Osman; Mohamed M. M. Metwally; Abd Elhakeem El-Murr; Simon J. Davies; Yasmina M. Abd-Elhakim (Veterinary Research Communications, 2025)

Genome-wide association analysis identifies seven loci conferring resistance to multiple wheat foliar diseases, including brown and yellow rust resistance originating from Aegilops ventricosa - Keith A. Gardner; Bethany Love; Pauline Bansept-Basler; Tobias Barber; Simon Berry; Nick Bird; Finn Borum; Lesley Boyd; James K. M. Brown; Ruth Bryant; Paul Fenwick; David Feuerhelm; et al. (Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2025)
We assembled a European bread wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) association mapping panel ( n = 480) genotyped using a 90,000 feature single nucleotide polymorphism array, with the aim of identifying genetic loci controlling resistance to four fungal diseases: yellow (stripe) rust (YR), brown (leaf) rust (BR), Septoria tritici blotch (ST) and powdery mildew (PM). Simulations showed our panel to have good power to detect genetic loci, with > 50% probability of identifying loci controlling as little as 5% of the variance when heritability was 0.6 or more. Using disease infection data collected across 31 trials undertaken in five European countries, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified 34 replicated genetic loci (20 for YR, 12 for BR, two for PM, 0 for ST), with seven loci associated with resistance to two or more diseases. Construction and analysis of eight bi-parental populations enabled two selected genetic loci, yellow rust resistance locus YR_2A010 (chromosome 2A) and YR_6A610 (6A), to be independently cross-validated, along with the development of genetic markers to track resistance alleles at these loci. Notably, the chromosome 2A yellow and brown rust resistance locus corresponds to the 2N v S introgression from the wild wheat species, Aegilops ventricosa . We found evidence of strong selection for 2N v S over recent breeding history, being present in 48% of the most recent cultivars in our panel. Collectively, we define the genetic architectures controlling resistance to major fungal diseases of wheat under European field environments, and provide resources to exploit these for the development of new wheat cultivars with improved disease resistance.

Movements and habitat use of reef manta rays around the Mozambique Channel Island of Mayotte, Southwestern Indian Ocean - Christoph A. Rohner; Stephanie K. Venables; Anna M. Knochel; Joshua M. Rambahiniarison; Vyctoria Marillac; Clémentine Cardon; Naomi Scholten; Simon J. Pierce; Jeremy J. Kiszka (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2025)

Volumetric printing and non-destructive drug quantification of water-soluble supramolecular hydrogels - Jun Jie Ong; Anna Kirstine Jørgensen; Zilan Zhu; Richard Telford; Philip J. Davies; Simon Gaisford; Alvaro Goyanes; Abdul W. Basit (Drug Delivery and Translational Research, 2025)
Vat photopolymerisation 3D printing is being actively explored for manufacturing personalised medicines due to its high dimensional accuracy and lack of heat application. However, several challenges have hindered its clinical translation, including the inadequate printing speeds, the lack of resins that give soluble matrices, and the need for non-destructive quality control measures. In this study, for the first time, a rapid approach to producing water-soluble vat photopolymerised matrices and a means of non-destructively verifying their drug content were investigated. Volumetric printing, a novel form of vat photopolymerisation, was used to fabricate personalised warfarin-loaded 3D-printed tablets (printlets). Eight different formulations containing varying amounts of warfarin (0.5–6.0% w/w) were used to print two different sized torus-shaped printlets within 6.5 to 11.1 s. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy revealed the presence of only trace amounts of unreacted acrylate monomers, suggesting that the photopolymerisation reaction had occurred to near completion. All printlets completely solubilised and released their entire drug load within 2.5 to 7 h. NIR spectroscopy (NIRS) was used to non-destructively verify the dose of warfarin loaded into the vat photopolymerised printlets. The partial least square regression model built showed strong linearity (R 2 = 0.980), and high accuracy in predicting the drug loading of the test sample (RMSEP = 0.205%). Therefore, this study advances pharmaceutical vat photopolymerisation by demonstrating the feasibility of producing water-soluble printlets via volumetric printing and quantifying the drug load of vat photopolymerised printlets with NIRS. Graphical abstract

Antiviral siRNA delivered using attenuated, anthrax toxin protects cells from the cytopathic effects of Zika virus - Benedita K. L. Feron; Timothy Gomez; Natalie C. Youens; Nourhan A. M. Mahmoud; Hadeer K. S. Abdelrahman; Joachim J. Bugert; Simon C. W. Richardson (Virus Genes, 2025)
Curative drugs are needed for the treatment of viral infections. Small interfering (si)RNA offer such a prospect but require the development of safe, effective and non-hepatotropic subcellular delivery systems. Here, 5 candidate siRNA molecules targeting defined sequences within the Zika Virus (ZIKV) genome were assayed for their ability to reduce ZIKV induced cytopathic effects in vitro. The protection of Huh-7 cells from ZIKV cytopathic effects was recorded after electroporation and the siRNA Feron-Zv2, resulting in 122.7 ± 5.3% cell viability ( n = 3 ± standard error of the mean (SEM), 100 nM siRNA) after exposure to ZIKV relative to a virus treated control (35.2 ± 7.1% cell viability ( n = 3 ± SEM)). Protection of BHK-21 cells was recorded after transfection with an attenuated anthrax toxin containing an RNA binding domain. Treatment with Feron-Zv4 resulted in 75.1 ± 2.9% cell viability ( n = 3 ± SEM, 25 nM siRNA) after exposure to ZIKV. This protection was mirrored by a system containing octameric PA where a maximum of 86.2 ± 4.4% cell viability was reported ( n = 3 ± SEM, 75 nM siRNA) after treatment with Feron-Zv2. Scrambled siRNA afforded no measurable protection. Here we report for the first time that siRNA delivered by either attenuated anthrax toxin or octamer forming ATx can protect mammalian cells from ZIKV cytopathic effects.

Investigating the impact of camel whey protein hydrolysate on cyp1a1 and keap1/nrf2 expression in hypoxic stress-affected liver tissue of Oreochromis niloticus - Amany Abdel-Rahman Mohamed; Afaf A. Kishta; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Yasmina M. Abd-Elhakim; Rowida E. Ibrahim; Mohamed M. M. Metwally; Tarek Khamis; Ali Osman; Simon J. Davies; Mohamed A. Elbealy (Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 2025)

Click-Funktionalisierung bakterieller Magnetosomen für die Biomedizin - Frank Mickoleit; Jakob J. Beierl; Simon Markert; Dirk Schüler (BIOspektrum, 2025)
Magnetosomes do not only serve magnetotactic bacteria as geomagnetic field sensors but also represent a novel class of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with unprecedented material properties. The recent development of genetic engineering techniques for their multifunctionalization now has turned magnetosomes into a versatile ‘click-able’ platform for the straightforward generation of magnetic nanoparticles tailored for specific catalytic and theranostic applications.

Changes in behaviour and serotonergic system of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fry related to different levels of black soldier fly larvae meal inclusion in the diet: Exploring the use of nutritional enrichment for its use as positive welfare in aquaculture - Mauro Chivite-Alcalde; Monica Betancor; Benjamin G J Clokie; Ahmed Elsheshtawy; Emma McDonald; Carlos Ramírez-Rodríguez; Miha Pipan; Simon A. MacKenzie; Sonia Rey Planellas (Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2025)

The impact of betalains and organic selenium on the physiological responses, blood metabolites, redox status, and semen quality of heat-stressed rabbits - Tharwat A. Imbabi; Eman H. Halawa; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Warith; Dina A. Selim; Mohamed H. Abdel Aal; Lamiaa M.M. EL-Maghraby; Abdalla El-Hadary; Shimaa A. Amer; Simon J. Davies; Mohamed S. Basiouny; Mahmoud Sitohy; et al. (Animal Feed Science and Technology, 2025)

ATMOCIAD: the ATomic and MOlecular cross-section for ionization and aurora database - Guillaume Gronoff; Cyril Simon Wedlund; Bradley Hegyi; Jean Lilensten; Alex Glocer; Gaël Cessateur; Olivier Witasse; Christopher J. Mertens (Advances in Space Research, 2025)

Incipient Range Expansion of Green Turtles in the Mediterranean - Gisela Marín‐Capuz; José Luis Crespo‐Picazo; Simon Demetropoulos; Lucia Garrido; Jane Hardwick; Imed Jribi; Dimitris Margaritoulis; Aliki Panagopoulou; Ana R. Patrício; Nathan J. Robinson; Marta Pascual; Cinta Pegueroles; et al. (Molecular Ecology, 2025)
In response to global climate change, numerous taxa are expanding their living ranges. In highly migratory species such as sea turtles, this expansion may be driven by individuals from nearby or distant areas. Recent nests outside the species' typical nesting range and reports of adult‐sized individuals in the western Mediterranean suggest a green turtle ( Chelonia mydas ) range expansion into the central and western Mediterranean. To assess the green turtles' origin in these novel habitats, we built a genomic baseline using 2bRAD sequencing on five individuals from each of three Regional Management Units (RMUs): North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Mediterranean. We then compared this baseline with genotyped hatchlings from three nests laid in new central and eastern Mediterranean sites and four mature‐sized green turtles tagged with satellite telemetry in the western Mediterranean. Our analyses revealed that the Tunisia nest originated from the South Atlantic RMU, while the Crete nests were produced by turtles from the Mediterranean RMU. Additionally, the three adult‐sized turtles sampled in the southwestern Mediterranean were assigned to the South Atlantic RMU, while the mature‐sized individual sampled in the northwestern Mediterranean belonged to the Mediterranean RMU. These results suggest a simultaneous incipient colonisation by two geographically distant RMUs. We propose that the range expansion of green turtles into the central and western Mediterranean is likely climate driven and these populations may become globally important as temperatures rise. Finally, our results highlight the essential role of the cost‐effective RAD‐Seq genomic assessment combined with tagging data to understand potential new colonisations.

Monitoring Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) distribution in the Southern Ocean: environmental DNA (eDNA) adds to the toolbox - Leonie Suter; Alicia Burns; Sophie Bestley; Jez Bird; Madeleine J. Brasier; Martin Cox; Derek Hamer; Olivia J. Johnson; So Kawaguchi; Rob King; Andreas Klocker; Jessica Melvin; et al. (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2025)
Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba Dana) is a key species of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, immensely abundant and targeted by the krill fishery. For their sustainable management, krill distribution and biomass estimates are required, typically achieved through acoustic-trawl surveys. We explore how krill environmental DNA (eDNA) can contribute to our understanding or Antarctic krill habitat and distribution. We collected eDNA samples by filtering five liters of seawater per sample in the East Antarctic Southern Ocean from the surface (5 m depth) and seafloor (381–4422 m depth, total n = 110). We used quantitative PCR to measure Antarctic krill eDNA abundance and age, and eDNA metabarcoding to detect any krill species. This eDNA data was compared to acoustic, visual and trawl detections of Antarctic krill. Antarctic krill eDNA was common in surface samples and largely overlapped with visual and trawl detections. Highest eDNA concentrations were detected above krill swarms, with concentrations declining with increasing distance from swarms. Near recent eDNA sampling locations, krill swarms were more likely acoustically detected than near old eDNA sampling locations. Antarctic krill detections were less common in seafloor locations, and detections were concentrated in the continental slope area to the south of the survey area, both for visual detections and for recent eDNA detections. Both methods detected Antarctic krill at great depths (recent eDNA: 4300 m; visual: 3080 m). In both eDNA and trawl data, Antarctic krill was the dominant krill species, followed by Thysanoessa macrura G.O. Sars, which was particularly abundant in larval stages throughout the survey area, including at Antarctic krill swarm locations. We recommend the inclusion of eDNA data for Antarctic krill distribution estimates and understanding of habitat use, particularly in difficult-to-access areas, such as under ice or benthic habitats.

Influence of ENSO, droughts, and temperature rise on pollen and pollen seasons in Australia - Arzoo Dhankhar; Darsy Darssan; Sagnik Dey; Edwin R. Lampugnani; Simon Haberle; Connie Katelaris; Pamela Burton; Usha Nattala; Nicholas J. Osborne (Science of The Total Environment, 2025)

Quantifying taxon-specific habitat connectivity requirements of urban wildlife using structured expert judgement - Stephanie K. Courtney Jones; Luke S. O'Loughlin; Danswell Starrs; Jacinta E. Humphrey; Stephanie A. Pulsford; Hugh Allan; Matt Beitzel; Kym Birgen; Suzi Bond; Jenny Bounds; Deborah Bower; Renee Brawata; et al. (Biological Conservation, 2025)

Submerged Corridors of Ancient Gene Flow in an Island Amphibian - Miranda B. Sherlock; Mark Wilkinson; Simon T. Maddock; Ronald A. Nussbaum; Julia J. Day; Jeffrey W. Streicher (Molecular Ecology, 2025)
Many island archipelagos sit on shallow continental shelves, and during the Pleistocene, these islands were often connected as global sea levels dropped following glaciation. Given a continental shelf only 30–60 m below sea level, the terrestrial biota of the Seychelles Archipelago likely dispersed amongst now isolated islands during the Pleistocene. Hypogeophis rostratus is an egg‐laying, direct‐developing caecilian amphibian found on 10 islands in the granitic Seychelles. Despite the seemingly limited dispersal abilities of this salt‐intolerant amphibian, its distribution on multiple islands suggests likely historic dispersal across now submerged continental shelf corridors. We tested for the genetic signature of these historic corridors using fine‐scale genomic data (ddRADseq). We found that genomic clusters often did not correspond to islands in the archipelago and that isolation‐by‐distance patterns were more consistent with gene flow across a continuous landscape than with isolated island populations. Using effective migration surfaces and ancestral range expansion prediction, we found support for contemporary populations originating near the large southern island of Mahé and dispersing to northern islands via the isolated Frégate island, with additional historic migration across the flat expanse of the Seychelles bank. Collectively, our results suggest that biogeographic patterns can retain signals from Pleistocene ‘palaeo‐islands’ and that present‐day islands can be thought of as hosting bottlenecks or transient refugia rather than discrete genetic units. Thus, the signatures of gene flow associated with palaeo‐islands may be stronger than the isolating effects of contemporary islands in terrestrial species distributed on continental shelf islands.

Genomic Analysis Reveals a New Cryptic Taxon Within the Anopheles gambiae Complex With a Distinct Insecticide Resistance Profile in the Coast of East Africa - Sophia H. Mwinyi; Kelly L. Bennett; Sanjay C. Nagi; Bilali Kabula; Johnson Matowo; David Weetman; Francesco Baldini; Simon A. Babayan; Martin J. Donnelly; Chris S. Clarkson; Fredros O. Okumu; Alistair Miles (Molecular Ecology, 2025)
Anopheles mosquitoes are major malaria vectors, encompassing several species complexes with diverse life histories, transmission risks and insecticide resistance profiles that challenge malaria control efforts. This study investigated the genetic structure and insecticide resistance profiles of Anopheles gambiae complex mosquitoes in Tanzania. We analysed whole‐genome sequence data of 300 mosquitoes collected between 2012 and 2015 across four regions in northern Tanzania and identified An. gambiae s.s., An. arabiensis and a distinct taxonomic group that was previously unknown. This distinct taxon has a unique profile of genetic diversity and appears restricted to the coastal region, and we refer to it as the Pwani molecular form. Analysis of insecticide resistance based on target‐site mutations and copy number variations (CNV) showed that these markers were strikingly absent from the Pwani molecular form in contrast to other taxa. Our analysis also revealed a pattern of geographical isolation in the An. gambiae s.s. populations, with samples from the north‐western site (Muleba) clustering separately from those collected in the north‐eastern site (Muheza). These geographically isolated subpopulations also had differing resistance and selection profiles, with An. gambiae s.s. from the north‐western site showing genomic evidence of higher resistance to pyrethroids compared with the north‐eastern population. Conversely, An. arabiensis showed no geographical population structuring, with a similar insecticide resistance profile across all sampling locations, suggesting unrestricted gene flow. Our findings underscore the need to incorporate genetic data into malaria vector surveillance and control decisions and could inform the development and deployment of new interventions.

BioTIME 2.0: Expanding and Improving a Database of Biodiversity Time Series - Maria Dornelas; Laura H. Antão; Amanda E. Bates; Viviana Brambilla; Jonathan M. Chase; Cher F. Y. Chow; Ada Fontrodona‐Eslava; Anne E. Magurran; Inês S. Martins; Faye Moyes; Alban Sagouis; Samuel Adu‐Acheampong; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2025)
Motivation Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The updated version expands version 1.0 of the database by doubling the number of studies and includes substantial additional curation to the taxonomic accuracy of the records, as well as the metadata. Moreover, we now provide an R package (BioTIMEr) to facilitate use of the database. Main Types of Variables Included The database is composed of one main data table containing the abundance records and 11 metadata tables. The data are organised in a hierarchy of scales where 11,989,233 records are nested in 1,603,067 sample events, from 553,253 sampling locations, which are nested in 708 studies. A study is defined as a sampling methodology applied to an assemblage for a minimum of 2 years. Spatial Location and Grain Sampling locations in BioTIME are distributed across the planet, including marine, terrestrial and freshwater realms. Spatial grain size and extent vary across studies depending on sampling methodology. We recommend gridding of sampling locations into areas of consistent size. Time Period and Grain The earliest time series in BioTIME start in 1874, and the most recent records are from 2023. Temporal grain and duration vary across studies. We recommend doing sample‐level rarefaction to ensure consistent sampling effort through time before calculating any diversity metric. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement The database includes any eukaryotic taxa, with a combined total of 56,400 taxa. Software Format csv and. SQL.

Worldwide Soundscapes: A Synthesis of Passive Acoustic Monitoring Across Realms - Kevin F. A. Darras; Rodney A. Rountree; Steven L. Van Wilgenburg; Anna F. Cord; Frederik Pitz; Youfang Chen; Lijun Dong; Agnès Rocquencourt; Camille Desjonquères; Patrick Mauritz Diaz; Tzu‐Hao Lin; Théophile Turco; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2025)
Aim The urgency for remote, reliable and scalable biodiversity monitoring amidst mounting human pressures on ecosystems has sparked worldwide interest in Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM), which can track life underwater and on land. However, we lack a unified methodology to report this sampling effort and a comprehensive overview of PAM coverage to gauge its potential as a global research and monitoring tool. To address this gap, we created the Worldwide Soundscapes project, a collaborative network and growing database comprising metadata from 416 datasets across all realms (terrestrial, marine, freshwater and subterranean). Location Worldwide, 12,343 sites, all ecosystem types. Time Period 1991 to present. Major Taxa Studied All soniferous taxa. Methods We synthesise sampling coverage across spatial, temporal and ecological scales using metadata describing sampling locations, deployment schedules, focal taxa and audio recording parameters. We explore global trends in biological, anthropogenic and geophysical sounds based on 168 selected recordings from 12 ecosystems across all realms. Results Terrestrial sampling is spatially denser (46 sites per million square kilometre—Mkm 2 ) than aquatic sampling (0.3 and 1.8 sites/Mkm 2 in oceans and fresh water) with only two subterranean datasets. Although diel and lunar cycles are well sampled across realms, only marine datasets (55%) comprehensively sample all seasons. Across the 12 ecosystems selected for exploring global acoustic trends, biological sounds showed contrasting diel patterns across ecosystems, declined with distance from the Equator, and were negatively correlated with anthropogenic sounds. Main Conclusions PAM can inform macroecological studies as well as global conservation and phenology syntheses, but representation can be improved by expanding terrestrial taxonomic scope, sampling coverage in the high seas and subterranean ecosystems, and spatio‐temporal replication in freshwater habitats. Overall, this worldwide PAM network holds promise to support cross‐realm biodiversity research and monitoring efforts.

How Do Synchrony in Survival and Productivity Influence Abundance Synchrony in European Landbirds? - Catriona A. Morrison; Jennifer A. Gill; Claire Buchan; Robert A. Robinson; Juan Arizaga; Oriol Baltà; Emanuel Baltag; Jaroslav Cepák; Pierre‐Yves Henry; Ian Henshaw; Zsolt Karcza; Petteri Lehikoinen; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2025)
Synchronous fluctuations in species' abundance are influenced by synchrony in underlying rates of productivity and survival. However, it remains unclear how rate synchrony varies in space and time, contributes to abundance synchrony, and differs among species. Using long‐term annual count (number of adults captured), adult survival and productivity (number of juveniles captured per adult) data for breeding land‐birds at ringing sites across Europe, we show that synchrony is strongest and largest scale in productivity and weakest and smallest scale in counts. However, counts fluctuate more synchronously with survival than they do with productivity. These patterns hold for species which do not migrate or only migrate within Europe (European‐residents) and those migrating to sub‐Saharan Africa (subSaharan‐migrants), but the periodicity of productivity and survival synchrony is longer in European‐residents than in subSaharan‐migrants. This suggests that survival and productivity synchrony may interact to weaken abundance fluctuations but are influenced by environmental drivers operating over differing timescales in European‐resident and subSaharan‐migrant species.

Earth's most needed uncultivated aquatic prokaryotes - Sophie A. Simon; Vera Aschmann; Annika Behrendt; Michael Hügler; Lisa M. Engl; Marion Pohlner; Sönke Rolfes; Thorsten Brinkhoff; Bert Engelen; Martin Könneke; Luis M. Rodriguez-R; Till L.V. Bornemann; et al. (Water Research, 2025)

Ultraviolet radiation vs air filtration to mitigate virus laden aerosol in an occupied clinical room - Shane A. Landry; Milan Jamriska; Vinay J. Menon; Leo Yi Yang Lee; Isabelle Magnin-Bougma; Dinesh Subedi; Jeremy J. Barr; Jason Monty; Kevin Kevin; Ajith Gunatilaka; Michelle Delaire; Guy B. Marks; et al. (Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2025)

Role of nutrition-sensitive agriculture in enhancing sustainable humanitarian assistance: Evidence from orange-fleshed sweetpotato interventions in Kenya - Chalmers K. Mulwa; Fredrick Grant; Marcel Gatto; Mukani Moyo; Dorcas Amunga; Norman Kwikiriza; Jack Malit; Julius J. Okello; Joyce Maru; Hugo Campos; Simon Heck (Food Policy, 2025)

Interoperability for ecosystem service assessments: Why, how, who, and for whom? - Kenneth J. Bagstad; Stefano Balbi; Greta Adamo; Ioannis N. Athanasiadis; Flavio Affinito; Simon Willcock; Ainhoa Magrach; Kiichiro Hayashi; Zuzana V. Harmáčková; Aidin Niamir; Bruno Smets; Marcel Buchhorn; et al. (Ecosystem Services, 2025)

Late Cenozoic intensification of deoxygenation in the Pacific Ocean - Katrina Nilsson-Kerr; Babette A.A. Hoogakker; Dharma A. Reyes Macaya; Helge A. Winkelbauer; Elliott Hamilton; Simon Chenery; Catherine V Davis; Melanie J. Leng (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2025)

Could rear-arc volcanism be driven by mantle instability? - Alex C. Davidson; Chris W. Firth; Simon P. Turner; Shane J. Cronin (Chemical Geology, 2025)

Alleviative potential of dietary essential oils against nickel toxicity triggers neurobehavioral abnormalities, biochemical dysfunction, and histopathological alterations in Nile tilapia - Shaimaa A. A. Ahmed; Ali Adel Ali Ahmed; Gehad E. Elshopakey; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Mai Farag Saad; Simon J. Davies; Rowida E. Ibrahim; Asmaa Edrees (Veterinary Research Communications, 2025)

An evaluation of spirooxindoles as blocking agents of SARS-CoV-2 spike/ACE2 interaction: synthesis, biological evaluation and computational analysis - Albert Enama Ehinak; Maloba M. M. Lobe; Donatus B. Eni; Conrad V. Simoben; Ian Tietjen; Mathieu J. Mbenga Tjegbe; Joel Cassel; Joseph M. Salvino; Luis J. Montaner; Wolfgang Sippl; Simon M. N. Efange; Fidele Ntie-Kang (Medicinal Chemistry Research, 2025)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has gained significant public health attention owing to its devastating effects on lives and livelihoods worldwide. Due to difficult access to vaccines in many developing countries and the inefficiency of vaccines in providing complete protection even with fully vaccinated persons, there remains the need for the development of novel drugs to combat the disease. This study describes the in vitro activity of a library of fifty-five spiro-fused tetrahydroisoquinoline–oxindole hybrids (spirooxindoles) as potential blocking agents of the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 viral spike and the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, essential for viral transmission. The synthesis was conducted by the Pictet-Spengler condensation of phenethylamine and isatin derivatives, while the screening against spike-ACE2 interaction was done using our previously described AlphaScreen fluorescent assay. The in vitro screening identified compound ( 11j ) as the most active, showing a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) of 3.6 μM against SARS-CoV-2 spike/ACE2 interaction. Structure-activity relationships explained via molecular docking studies and the computation of binding free energy of each compound with respect to the spike/ACE2 protein-protein interaction showed that the most active compound possesses a bulky naphthyl group, which addresses voluminous hydrophobic regions of the ACE2 binding site and interacts with the hydrophobic residues of the target. Therefore, these compounds could be potentially useful in searching for SARS-CoV-2 spike/ACE2 interaction blocking agents.

Ameliorative potential of Populus alba leaf powder against hexaflumuron exposure in Nile tilapia: immune-antioxidant, biochemical, histological, and transcriptomic analysis - Rowida E. Ibrahim; Mohamed F. M. Farag; Mohammed S. Sobh; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Shefaa M. Bazeed; Aya Elgamal; Tarek Khamis; Simon J. Davies; Afaf N. Abdel Rahman (Fish Physiology and Biochemistry, 2025)

Carbonate alkalinity induces stress responses and renal and metabolic disorders in Nile tilapia: mitigation by camel whey protein hydrolysate diet - Rowida E. Ibrahim; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Amany Abdel-Rahman Mohamed; Tarek Khamis; Ali Osman; Mohamed M. M. Metwally; Simon J. Davies; Yasmina M. Abd-Elhakim (Fish Physiology and Biochemistry, 2025)

Correction to: Persistent declines in sightings of manta and devil rays (mobulidae) at a global hotspot in southern mozambique - Stephanie K. Venables; Christoph A. Rohner; Anna L. Flam; Simon J. Pierce; Andrea D. Marshall (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2025)

Persistent declines in sightings of manta and devil rays (Mobulidae) at a global hotspot in southern Mozambique - Stephanie K. Venables; Christoph A. Rohner; Anna L. Flam; Simon J. Pierce; Andrea D. Marshall (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2025)
Mobulid rays are among the most vulnerable of chondrichthyans to overexploitation by fisheries due to their low population growth rates. In locations where catch data are lacking, long-term sightings data can provide valuable insight to infer population trends and status. We recorded underwater sighting data of reef manta rays ( Mobula alfredi ), oceanic manta rays ( M. birostris ), and shorthorned pygmy devil rays ( M. kuhlii ) between 2003 and 2023 in the waters off Praia do Tofo in the Inhambane Province, southern Mozambique, one of the major global hotspots for these rays. We modelled sightings data using a hierarchical generalised linear mixed model framework to account for a suite of environmental variables when examining temporal trends. Raw trend models including only ‘year’ as a predictor showed a 99% decline in sightings of reef manta rays, a 92.5% decline in oceanic manta ray sightings, and an 81.3% decline in devil ray sightings over the 20-year study period. The declining trends persisted for reef and oceanic manta rays once a suite of temporal and environmental variables were accounted for, indicating that the declines were driven by external factors not tested in the models. For shorthorned pygmy devil rays, models that incorporated environmental variables did not retain year as a significant predictor and showed a reduced overall decline in sightings of 36.5%. This indicates that the tested predictors were responsible for approximately half of the observed decline. Anthropogenic factors, particularly fisheries mortality, are likely to have played a significant role in the declining sightings of these three Threatened species. Improved conservation and management measures at a national and international level are critical to prevent further declines, which may otherwise lead to localised extinction.

From rural to urban: Exploring livestock farming practices in urbanizing landscapes - Dagmar J.M. Braamhaar; Jan van der Lee; Bockline O. Bebe; Simon J. Oosting (Agricultural Systems, 2025)

Inferring Species Interactions From Co‐occurrence Networks With Environmental DNA Metabarcoding Data in a Coastal Marine Food Web - Elizabeth Boyse; Kevin P. Robinson; Ian M. Carr; Elena Valsecchi; Maria Beger; Simon J. Goodman (Molecular Ecology, 2025)
A good understanding of biotic interactions is necessary to accurately predict the vulnerability of ecosystems to climate change. Recently, co‐occurrence networks built from environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding data have arisen as a tool to explore interspecific interactions in ecological communities exposed to different human and environmental pressures. Such networks can identify environmentally driven relationships in microbial and eukaryotic communities, but whether inferred co‐occurrences robustly represent biotic interactions remains unclear. Here, we tackle this challenge and compare spatio‐temporal variability in the structure and complexity of inferred co‐occurrence networks and food webs, using 60 eDNA samples covering vertebrates and other eukaryotes in a North Sea coastal ecosystem. We compare topological characteristics and identify highly connected species across spatial and temporal subsets to evaluate variance in community composition and structure. We find consistent trends in topological characteristics across eDNA‐derived co‐occurrence networks and food webs that support some ability for the co‐occurrence networks to detect real ecological processes, despite trophic interactions forming a minority of significant co‐occurrences. The lack of significant trophic interactions detected in co‐occurrence networks may result from ecological complexities, such as generalist predators having flexible interactions or behavioural partitioning, the inability to distinguish age class with eDNA or co‐occurrences being driven by non‐trophic or abiotic interactions. We find support for using eDNA‐derived co‐occurrence networks to infer ecological interactions, but further work is needed to assess their power to reliably detect and differentiate different interaction types and overcome methodological limitations, such as species detection uncertainties, which could influence inferred ecosystem complexity.

Seed Production and 22 Years of Climatic Changes in an Everwet Neotropical Forest - Jason Vleminckx; J. Aaron Hogan; Margaret R. Metz; Liza S. Comita; Simon A. Queenborough; S. Joseph Wright; Renato Valencia; Milton Zambrano; Nancy C. Garwood (Ecology Letters, 2025)
Examining the cues and drivers influencing seed production is crucial to better understand forest resilience to climate change. We explored the effects of five climatic variables on seed production over 22 years in an everwet Amazonian forest, by separating direct effects of these variables from indirect effects mediated through flower production. We observed a decline in seed production over the study period, which was primarily explained by direct effects of rising nighttime temperatures and declining average vapour pressure deficits. Higher daytime temperatures were positively related to seed output, mainly through a flower‐mediated effect, while rainfall effects on seed production were more nuanced, showing either positive or negative relationships depending on the seasonal timing of rains. If these trends continue, they are likely to lead to significant changes in forest dynamics, potentially impacting both forest structure and species composition.

Non-serous ovarian cancer in PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome: additional evidence for increased risk - Ane J. Schei-Andersen; Vera M. Witjes; Janet R. Vos; Arjen R. Mensenkamp; Anne van Altena; Jolanda Schieving; Michiel Simons; Janneke H. M. Schuurs-Hoeijmakers; Muriel A. Adank; Liselotte P. van Hest; Yvette van Ierland; Mirjam de Jong; et al. (Familial Cancer, 2025)
Increased hereditary cancer risk is one of the hallmarks of PTEN Hamartoma Tumor Syndrome (PHTS) which is caused by a pathogenic germline variant in PTEN . Case reports and some cohort studies have described ovarian cancer (OC) in PHTS patients. Previously, we observed an enrichment of non-serous OC in PHTS compared to sporadic cases (3% vs 1%). However, ovarian cancer is currently not considered a PHTS-related cancer. The aim of this study was to describe five PHTS patients with a pathogenic germline variant in PTEN with non-serous OC. Three of the non-serous OCs were mucinous carcinomas (49, 51 and 52 years) and two were malignant germ cell tumors (8 and 15 years) and all were diagnosed before genetic testing and PHTS diagnosis. In addition to OC, the described patients developed other PHTS-related benign and malignant lesions. We provide further evidence that non-serous ovarian cancer, especially mucinous, endometrioid and malignant germ cell tumors should be further investigated as potential PHTS-related cancers.

Associations between metabolomic scores and clinical outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients - Jens A. Venema; Anna Kuranova; Daniele Bizzarri; Simon P. Mooijaart; Angele P. M. Kerckhoffs; Kitty Slieker; Evertine J. Abbink; Harmke A. Polinder-Bos; Eline Slagboom; Geeske Peeters; Jacobijn Gussekloo; Karel G. M. Moons; et al. (GeroScience, 2025)
The disease course and outcome of COVID-19 greatly varies between individuals. To explore which biological systems may contribute to this variation, we examined how individual metabolites and three metabolic scores relate to COVID-19 outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The metabolome of 346 patients was measured using the 1H-NMR Nightingale platform. The association of individual metabolomic features and multi-biomarker scores, i.e. MetaboHealth, MetaboAge, and Infectious Disease Score (IDS) (higher scores reflect poorer health), with in-hospital disease course, long-term recovery, and overall survival were analyzed. Higher values for the metabolites phenylalanine (HR = 1.33, CI = 1.14–1.56), glucose (HR = 1.37, CI = 1.16–1.62) and lactate (HR = 1.38, CI = 1.16–1.63) were associated with mortality. For all three metabolic scores, higher scores were significantly associated with higher odds of a poorer in-hospital disease course (MetaboHealth: OR = 1.61, CI = 1.29–2.02; ΔMetaboAge: OR = 1.42, CI = 1.16–1.74; IDS: OR = 1.55, 1.25–1.93) and with overall survival (MetaboHealth: HR = 1.57, CI = 1.28–1.92; ΔMetaboAge: HR = 1.34, CI = 1.15–1.57; IDS: HR = 1.56, CI = 1.27–1.93). MetaboHealth and ΔMetaboAge showed a stronger association in younger patients (< 70 yrs.) than older patients. No clear patterns were found in associations between the three scores and measures of long-term recovery. In conclusion, the heterogeneity in disease course after SARS-COV2 infection may be explained either by generic biological frailty reflected by the three metabolomics scores or by glycemic control (glucose, lactate) and respiratory distress (phenylalanine).

Past and present bacterial communities in deglaciating northern latitude catchments reveal varied soil carbon sequestration potential - Saule Akhmetkaliyeva; Andrew P. Dean; Leon J. Clarke; Simon J. Cook; Sharon Ruiz Lopez; Robert B. Sparkes (Science of The Total Environment, 2025)

The influence of atmospheric drivers, environmental factors, and urban land use on extreme hourly precipitation trends over the CONtiguous United States for 40 years at 4-km resolution (CONUS404) - Sofia D. Nerantzaki; Hebatallah M. Abdelmoaty; Simon Michael Papalexiou; Andrew J. Newman (Science of The Total Environment, 2025)

Genomic insights into the biogeography and evolution of Galápagos iguanas - Cecilia Paradiso; Paolo Gratton; Emiliano Trucchi; Julia López-Delgado; Marco Gargano; Lorenzo Garizio; Ian M. Carr; Giuliano Colosimo; Christian Sevilla; Mark E. Welch; Mohd Firdaus-Raih; Mohd Noor Mat-Isa; et al. (Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2025)

Six olivine inclusions in diamond are remnants of a syngenetic monocrystal - Matthew M. Wincott; Simon C. Kohn; Ian J. Parkinson (Lithos, 2025)

The role of greenspace in vitamin D status: cross-sectional, observational evidence from the UK Biobank - Chinonso Christian Odebeatu; Darsy Darssan; Joana A. Revez; Charlotte Roscoe; Phu Do; Simon Reid; Nicholas J. Osborne (International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 2025)

Adaptive capacities of inland fisheries facing anthropogenic pressures - Gretchen L. Stokes; Samuel J. Smidt; Emily L. Tucker; Matteo Cleary; Simon Funge-Smith; John Valbo‐Jørgensen; Benjamin S. Lowe; Abigail J. Lynch (Global Environmental Change, 2025)

Compassionate conservation in practice: A values-driven, interdisciplinary, pluralistic, and deliberative community - William S. Lynn; Liv Baker; William T. Borrie; Adam P.A. Cardilini; Shelley M. Alexander; Simon Coghlan; Paul Cryer; Gavin T. Bonsen; Tristan T. Derham; Oded Keynan; Christine M. Reed; Sophie Riley; et al. (Biological Conservation, 2025)

Quantifying impacts of seabird bycatch using genetic assignment: A case study of black-footed albatross in U.S. fisheries - Jessie N. Beck; Diana S. Baetscher; Claire Tobin; Scott V. Edwards; Simon Yung Wa Sin; Shannon Fitzgerald; Vanessa J. Tuttle; John Peschon; Wesley A. Larson (Biological Conservation, 2025)

Fine mapping and identification of causal alleles at the Ur-11 locus controlling rust resistance in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) - Mohammad Erfatpour; Kristin J. Simons; Jayanta Roy; Jose C. Figueroa-Cerna; Rian Lee; James Beaver; Phillip E. McClean; Juan M. Osorno (Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2025)
The Middle American rust resistance gene Ur-11 present in common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) confers resistance to all but one known race of the pathogen Uromyces appendiculatus (Pers.) Unger. Even though progress has been made in understanding the host–pathogen interactions between common bean and U. appendiculatus , the causal alleles of the majority of rust resistance loci, including Ur-11, remain unknown. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to identify genomic regions associated with resistance to the U. appendiculatus race 31–22, which is avirulent to Ur-11 but virulent to other Middle American rust resistance genes. GWAS using genotypic data consisting of approximately 70,959 SNP markers and phenotypic data based on the median reaction type (1–9 scale) of a panel of 357 Middle American breeding lines and cultivars, plus 5 germplasm lines with the Ur-11 locus derived from PI 181996, located Ur-11 on chromosome Pv11. Twenty-seven SNP markers clustered in the 55.16–55.56 Mb region of the P. vulgaris UI111 reference. Multiple DNA sequence alignments detected a missense mutation [c.1,328A > G] in the PvUI111.11G202400 gene model that encodes a leucine-rich repeat-containing protein in response to race 31–22. A PCR allele competitive extension marker (PACE) was developed and tested across a panel of ~ 700 Middle American dry bean genotypes. No recombination event was observed for the PACE marker among the tested genotypes; suggesting that the polymorphism on which it is based is very close to or in the Ur-11 gene. This PACE marker will be a useful and reliable marker for marker-assisted selection of Ur-11 -based resistance to bean rust.

Reconstructing the long-term ecological history of Long Island, Furneaux Group (Bass Strait), Lutruwita/Tasmania - Madeleine Bessell-Koprek; Simon Graeme Haberle; Stefania Ondei; Stephen Harris; David M. J. S. Bowman (Regional Environmental Change, 2025)
The Bass Strait islands are the elevated remnants of a now-submerged continental land bridge that connected the mainland of Australia to Lutruwita/Tasmania during low sea level phases of the Quaternery period. The Furneaux Group is made up of around 100 islands, harbouring a rich diversity of plants derived from glacial refugia and stepping-stone dispersal as millennial-scale climate change altered the land and seascape configuration of the land bridge. Despite the region’s significance, long-term ecological and environmental dynamics of most of these islands remain poorly known. We present the first palaeoecological study of Long Island, a small granite island of the Furneaux group, currently covered by extensive grasslands in the west and patches of forest and woodland in the east and north of the island. We use decadal to centennial-scale resolution palaeoecological evidence for vegetation, animal and fire dynamics, alongside historical accounts of vegetation changes inferred from aerial photo analysis, to develop a comprehensive record of the island’s long-term ecology. Results show that grasslands have been an important feature of the island for at least the last 1000 years, and are reminiscent of Last Glacial Maximum grasslands of the now-submerged Bassian Plain. Both aerial photo analysis and the palaeoecological record show increases in forest cover on the island’s eastern corner over the past four decades. We discuss these ecological dynamics in the context of environmental and climatic shifts. This study emphasises the importance of palaeoecological studies, specifically their value in understanding modern ecosystems in their historic context. This data is critical in understanding the island’s current landscape and how this might change into the future.

Otolith growth chronologies reveal distinct environmental sensitivities between and within shallow- and deep-water snappers - Joseph B. Widdrington; Patrick Reis-Santos; John R. Morrongiello; Jed I. Macdonald; Corey B. Wakefield; Stephen J. Newman; Simon J. Nicol; Bronwyn M. Gillanders (Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 2025)
Fish growth underpins individual fitness and population-level metrics, with fluctuations linked to environmental variability. Growth chronologies derived from otolith increment analysis are a powerful proxy to understand population responses to environmental change and productivity. Yet, long-term patterns of growth and their environmental drivers are better understood for shallow-water species compared to deep-water inhabitants. Additionally, focus is largely on adults, disregarding the potential influence of juvenile growth which is critical to size- and age-at-maturity. Here, we investigate the long-term growth patterns of two commercially important snapper species separated by depth in northwestern Australia’s coastal shelf waters, the shallow-water Lutjanus sebae (70 year chronology, 1950–2020) and the deep-water Etelis boweni (41 year chronology, 1973–2013). Annually-resolved otolith growth chronologies revealed distinct environmental sensitivities within (juveniles vs adults) and among (shallow- vs deep-water habitats) species. Within species, juveniles and adults responded differently to shared environmental stimuli, highlighting the importance of understanding the impacts of environmental effects and sensitivities for different life-history stages. Across species, L. sebae exhibited highly variable growth tied to local climate signals such as sea surface temperature and rainfall, while E. boweni displayed more stable growth patterns that only responded to interannual and decadal shifts in the environment (e.g. Pacific Decadal Oscillation). Our results highlight potential vulnerabilities of shallow-water species to future environmental perturbations compared to species residing at depth, as they are likely to encounter more extreme climate variability under future oceanic conditions. This study contributes valuable insights into understanding and managing the impacts of future environmental variability on fisheries sustainability, emphasising the need for continued research across species and habitats.

Comparative Transcriptomics Reveals the Molecular Mechanisms of Maize in Response to Downy Mildew Disease Caused by Peronosclerospora philippinensis (Weston) Shaw - Edward Cedrick J. Fernandez; Eliza Vie M. Simon-Ada; Jay-Vee S. Mendoza; Anand Noel C. Manohar; Roanne R. Gardoce; Tonette P. Laude; Fe M. Dela Cueva; Darlon V. Lantican (Plant Molecular Biology Reporter, 2025)

Occurrence of mobulid rays in Northwest Madagascar - Stella Diamant; Caterina Bosio; Joshua Rambahiniarison; Chris Scarffe; Michel Strogoff; Jeremy J. Kiszka; Rhett Bennett; Tanguy Guillemain d’Echon; Elina Sourisseau; Léonce C. M. Fidiarisandratra; Salvatore Cerchio; Stephanie Venables; et al. (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2025)
The waters around Nosy Be in northwest Madagascar are well-known for the occurrence of large planktivores, such as whale sharks ( Rhincodon typus ) and Omura’s whales ( Balaenoptera omurai ). Between 2016 and 2022, sighting data on mobulid rays were opportunistically collected during tourism activities. Additional sources, including citizen science submissions, tourism operator reports, and social media records, were used to compile sightings of three mobulid ray species. A total of 255 encounters were documented, with Mobula mobular ( n = 165) being the most common, followed by M. birostris ( n = 60) and M. kuhlii ( n = 30). Notably, the absence of confirmed M. alfredi records since 2015 suggests a potential local decline. This study highlights Nosy Be as a habitat for mobulid rays and emphasises the necessity for further species monitoring, ongoing identification of potential threats, and management initiatives aiming at reducing mortality from gillnet fishing.

Postglacial Recolonization of the Southern Ocean by Elephant Seals Occurred From Multiple Glacial Refugia - Andrew A. Berg; Megan Askew; Frederik V. Seersholm; Alexander J. F. Verry; A. Rus Hoelzel; Andreanna Welch; Karen Greig; Richard Walter; Michael Knapp; Axel Barlow; Johanna L. A. Paijmans; Jonathan M. Waters; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2025)
The Southern Ocean is warming more rapidly than other parts of our planet. How this region's endemic biodiversity will respond to such changes can be illuminated by studying past events through genetic analyses of time‐series data sets, including historic and fossil remains. Archaeological and subfossil remains show that the southern elephant seal ( Mirounga leonina ) was common along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand in the recent past. This species is now mostly confined to sub‐Antarctic islands and the southern tip of South America. We analyzed ancient seal samples from Australia (Tasmania), New Zealand and the Antarctic mainland to examine how southern elephant seals have responded to a changing climate and anthropogenic pressures during the Holocene. Our analyses show that these seals formed part of a broader Australasian lineage, comprising seals from all sampled locations from the south Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. Our study demonstrates that southern elephant seal populations have dynamically altered both range and population sizes under climatic and human pressures over surprisingly short evolutionary timeframes for such a large, long‐lived mammal.

A seascape dichotomy in the role of small consumers for coral reef energy fluxes - Simon J. Brandl; Helen F. Yan; Jordan M. Casey; Nina M. D. Schiettekatte; Julianna J. Renzi; Alexandre Mercière; Fabien Morat; Isabelle M. Côté; Valeriano Parravicini (Ecology, 2025)
Biogeochemical fluxes through ecological communities underpin the functioning of ecosystems worldwide. These fluxes are often heavily influenced by small‐bodied consumers, such as insects, worms, mollusks, or small vertebrates, which transfer energy and nutrients from autotrophic sources to larger animals. Although coral reefs are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world, we know relatively little about how small consumers make energy available to larger predators and how their roles may vary across reefs. Here, we use community‐scale collections of small, bottom‐dwelling (“cryptobenthic”) reef fishes along with size spectrum analyses, stable isotopes, and demographic modeling to examine their role in harnessing and transferring carbon in two distinct coral reef habitats. Using a comprehensive dataset from Mo'orea (French Polynesia), we demonstrate that, despite only being separated by a narrow reef crest, forereef and backreef habitats harbor distinct communities of cryptobenthic fishes that play vastly divergent roles in carbon transfer. Forereef communities in Mo'orea are depauperate, largely consisting of predatory and planktivorous species that have comparatively high standing biomass (both individually and collectively). In these communities, the combination of size spectra and isotope values suggests important contributions of pelagic subsidies, but the rate of biomass production and turnover (i.e., the rate at which biomass is replenished) is relatively low. In contrast, cryptobenthic fish communities in the backreef are characterized by high abundances of the smallest bodied species, forming a traditional bottom‐heavy trophic pyramid that is fueled by benthic autotrophs. In these communities, benthic productivity fuels rapid production and turnover of fish biomass, while pelagic energy channels are notably less productive. Our integrative approach demonstrates the utility of combining multiple methods (e.g., isotopically informed demographic models) to trace energy fluxes through small consumer communities in complex ecosystems. Furthermore, our results highlight that coral reef productivity dynamics are highly habitat‐dependent and the role of the smallest coral reef consumers may be most pronounced in shallow systems with limited connectivity to the open ocean.

Dietary Prunus armeniaca augments antioxidant-immune-capacity, absorptive function, and growth and upregulates nutrient transporters and immune-regulatory genes of Oreochromis niloticus - Afaf N. Abdel Rahman; Sara T. Elazab; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Tarek Khamis; Simon J. Davies; Rowida E. Ibrahim (Aquaculture, 2025)

Assessing nitrogen circularity in food systems in the North China Plain - Chuanlan Tang; O. van Hal; Yong Hou; Simon J. Oosting; Pierre J. Gerber (Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 2025)

Optimising sub-metre resolution 3D geomorphic change detection over large areas using multitemporal airborne laser scanning with Sentinel-1 InSAR and Sentinel-2 optical observations - Simon J. Walker; Scott N. Wilkinson; Tim R. McVicar; Pascal Castellazzi; Sana Khan (Remote Sensing of Environment, 2025)

Control of N-nitrosamine impurities in drug products: Progressing the current CPCA framework and supporting the derivation of robust compound specific acceptable intakes - David J. Ponting; Andreas Czich; Susan P. Felter; Susanne Glowienke; James S. Harvey; Raphael Nudelman; Joerg Schlingemann; Stephanie Simon; Graham F. Smith; Andrew Teasdale; Robert Thomas (Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 2025)

Evaluating the effectiveness of badger vaccination combined with cattle test-and-removal in managing Bovine Tuberculosis: Insights from a two-host and multi-route transmission model - You Chang; Stefan Widgren; Mart C.M. de Jong; Jamie A. Tratalos; Simon J. More; Nienke Hartemink (Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 2025)

Deep-sea drilling of the 13°30′ N oceanic core complex: Assessing links between fluid flow, metal enrichment and seafloor massive sulfide deposit formation near Semenov-1 - Andrew J. Martin; Bramley J. Murton; Christopher J. MacLeod; John W. Jamieson; Isobel I. Yeo; Sven Petersen; Katie A. McFall; Simon Allerton; Anna Lichtschlag; Christian Bishop; Acer Figueroa; Szu-Ying Lai (Lithos, 2025)

In vitro anti-biofilm efficacy of therapeutic low dose 265 nm UVC - Sanjay Marasini; Simon J. Dean; Simon Swift; Jagir R. Hussan; Jennifer P. Craig (Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, 2025)

Legume protein gelation: The mechanism behind the formation of homogeneous and fractal gels - Alice Y.J. Tiong; Simon Crawford; Liliana de Campo; Vasyl Ryukhtin; Christopher J. Garvey; Warren Batchelor; Leonie van ’t Hag (Food Hydrocolloids, 2025)

Pets and related allergens modify the association between early life DEHP exposure and respiratory outcomes in children - Luyao Zhang; Ruixue Dai; Wendy Lou; Piush Mandhane; Theo J. Moraes; Elinor Simons; Peter S. Thorne; Teresa To; Stuart E. Turvey; Padmaja Subbarao; Jeffrey R. Brook (Environmental Research, 2025)

Valorization of lignocellulosic biomass forest residues in quebec via the integrated hydropyrolysis and hydroconversion (IH2) technology: A review - Aravind Ganesan; Olivier Rezazgui; Jimmy Barco Burgos; Patrice J. Mangin; Simon Barnabé (Biomass and Bioenergy, 2025)

Bacteria-Produced Algicide for Field Control of Toxic Dinoflagellates Does Not Cause a Cortisol Stress Response in Two Estuarine Fish Species - Victoria E. Simons; Timothy E. Targett; Patrick M. Gaffney; Kathryn J. Coyne (Marine Biotechnology, 2025)
Application of algicides produced by naturally occurring bacteria is considered an environmentally friendly approach to control harmful algal blooms. However, few studies assess the effects of bacterial algicides on non-target species, either independently or with other stressors. Here, we measured sub-lethal effects of dinoflagellate-specific algicide IRI-160AA on the estuarine fish Fundulus heteroclitus and Menidia menidia in laboratory experiments. Plasma cortisol levels were measured to test whether a neuroendocrine stress response was induced in these fish following exposure to the algicide alone, and in combination with diel-cycling hypoxia and/or pH, at 25 and 30 °C. Results show that exposure to IRI-160AA does not significantly affect cortisol levels in either species, at either temperature tested, whether exposure occurs independently or with co-occurring hypoxia and/or pH cycles as potential multiple stressors. These results support the application of IRI-160AA as an environmentally friendly approach to control harmful algal blooms in estuarine environments.

Biochar–soil–plant interfaces: a systematic review of the crop performance in tropical climate - J. Z. Lima; C. da Penha Simon (International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2025)

Dietary deacetylated chitin nanoparticles confer protection against diazinon toxicity in male African catfish: evaluation of immune-biochemical, antioxidant, and reproductive profiles - Hiam Elabd; Heba H. Mahboub; Heba S. Hamed; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Samar Kamel; Amany Ramah; Sahar H. Orabi; Sherif M. Shawky; Simon J. Davies; Zeinab Hassan (Fish Physiology and Biochemistry, 2025)

Physiological, biochemical, apoptosis-linked gene expression, and histopathological insights in Nile catfish subjected to toxicity by magnetite nanogel - Yasmina K. Mahmoud; Shaimaa A. A. Ahmed; Heba H. Mahboub; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Ahmed A. Elnegiry; Sherif M. Shawky; Sahar H. Orabi; Sameh H. Ismail; Simon J. Davies; Mahmoud I. M. Darwish (Fish Physiology and Biochemistry, 2025)

Effects of lifestyle activity level on anticipatory locomotor adjustments for pedestrian circumvention: an exploratory study - Joris Boulo; Margaux Simon; Bradford J. McFadyen; Andreanne K. Blanchette (Experimental Brain Research, 2025)

Validation and otolith-mass prediction of age and growth for cardinal snapper Pristipomoides macrophthalmus of the Caribbean Sea - Ivy E. Baremore; Allen H. Andrews; Simon J. B. Gulak; Rachel T. Graham; Matthew J. Witt; Virginia R. Shervette (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2025)
Cardinal snapper Pristipomoides macrophthalmus is a commercially important, but commonly misidentified, deepwater species in artisanal and semi-industrial fisheries throughout the Caribbean Sea. As with many tropical deepwater fishes, little is known about the biology or ecology of the species. Bomb radiocarbon ( 14 C) dating was applied to cardinal snapper sagittal otoliths collected from the waters of Belize and Honduras during 2015–2019 to investigate the lifespan of the species from thin-sectioned otoliths with an evaluation of otolith mass as a proxy for age. Ages estimated from 28 thin-sectioned otoliths ranged from 7 to 68 years for fish that covered the range lengths and otolith masses available. Radiocarbon values were measured for each cardinal snapper otolith core, and two fish (one each from Belize and Honduras) had 14 C signatures consistent with pre-bomb values, effectively validating a lifespan of at least 60 years. A curvilinear relationship between otolith mass and estimated age was robust ( r 2 = 0.95) and is likely to produce age estimates with similar margins of error to traditional, more labor-intensive methods, such as counting increments from thin-sectioned otoliths. The otolith mass-to-age relationship is a well-supported method that provides a simple, low-cost approach that can be used by fishers, managers, and other stakeholders to assess the age composition of the cardinal snapper stock in the western Caribbean Sea for present and long-term monitoring.

Correction to: Influence of astaxanthin‑enriched Haematococcus pluvialis microalgae on the growth efficacy, immune response, antioxidant capacity, proinflammatory cytokines, and tissue histomorphology of hybrid red tilapia - Elsayed A. A. Eldessouki; Gehad E. Elshopakey; Samia Elbahnaswy; Medhat S. Shakweer; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Simon J. Davies; Amira Mili; Yasmin M. Abd El‑Aziz; Sameh A. Abdelnour; El‑Sayed Hemdan Eissa (Aquaculture International, 2025)

Potential of using kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) protein hydrolysate as a plant protein supplement in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diets: effects on growth, hematology, histology, and blood biochemical parameters - Shimaa A. Amer; Rowida E. Ibrahim; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Warith; Ali Osman; Simon J. Davies; Medhat S. Shakweer (Aquaculture International, 2025)

EuPPollNet : A European Database of Plant‐Pollinator Networks - Jose B. Lanuza; Tiffany M. Knight; Nerea Montes‐Perez; Will Glenny; Paola Acuña; Matthias Albrecht; Maddi Artamendi; Isabelle Badenhausser; Joanne M. Bennett; Paolo Biella; Ricardo Bommarco; Andree Cappellari; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2025)
Motivation Pollinators play a crucial role in maintaining Earth's terrestrial biodiversity. However, rapid human‐induced environmental changes are compromising the long‐term persistence of plant‐pollinator interactions. Unfortunately, we lack robust, generalisable data capturing how plant‐pollinator communities are structured across space and time. Here, we present the EuPPollNet (European Plant‐Pollinator Networks) database, a fully open European‐level database containing harmonised taxonomic data on plant‐pollinator interactions referenced in both space and time, along with other ecological variables of interest. In addition, we evaluate the taxonomic and sampling coverage of EuPPollNet, and summarise key structural properties in plant‐pollinator networks. We believe EuPPollNet will stimulate research to address data gaps in plant‐pollinator interactions and guide future efforts in conservation planning. Main Types of Variables Included EuPPollNet contains 1,162,109 interactions between plants and pollinators from 1864 distinct networks, which belong to 52 different studies distributed across 23 European countries. Information about sampling methodology, habitat type, biogeographic region and additional taxonomic rank information (i.e. order, family, genus and species) is also provided. Spatial Location and Grain The database contains 1214 different sampling locations from 13 different natural and anthropogenic habitats that fall in 7 different biogeographic regions. All records are geo‐referenced and presented in the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84). Time Period and Grain Species interaction data was collected between 2004 and 2021. Major Taxa and Level of Measurement The database contains interaction data at the species level for 94% of the records, including a total of 1411 plant and 2223 pollinator species. The database includes data on 6% of the European species of flowering plants, 34% of bees, 26% of butterflies and 33% of syrphid species at the European level. Software Format The database was built with R and is stored in ‘.rds’ and ‘.csv’ formats. Its construction is fully reproducible and can be accessed at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14747448 .

Turning Up the Heat: More Persistent Precipitation Regimes Weaken the Micro‐Climate Buffering Capacity of Forage Grasses During a Hot Summer - Simon Reynaert; Ivan Nijs; Tommy D'Hose; Erik Verbruggen; Jutte Callaerts; Hans J. De Boeck (Global Change Biology, 2025)
Developing climate‐proof forage grasslands does not only require developing plant communities that are soil drought resistant, but also adept at buffering elevated atmospheric temperatures to minimize heat stress for plant and soil. Previous studies indicate that the emerging trend towards rainfall regimes with longer dry and wet spells negatively affects forage grass performance (i.e., greater physiological plant stress and yield loss) in Western Europe. We conducted a 120‐day open‐air experiment testing whether a hot summer (+3°C for the first 60 days) exacerbates the negative effects of increased persistence in precipitation regimes (PR) (3 vs. 30 days consecutive wet/dry) on the performance of four distinct forage varieties ( Dactylis glomerata , Festuca arundinacea , Lolium perenne (tetraploid) and Lolium perenne (diploid)) across two soils differing in management history (permanent vs. temporary grasslands). Our results indicate that climate warming indeed worsens negative effects of more persistent PR on forage grass productivity and physiological plant stress by inducing more extreme soil drought and elevated micro‐climatic temperatures, but permanent grassland soils with elevated organic carbon can buffer yields. Moreover, higher yielding varieties that are more proficient at buffering soil surface and canopy temperatures and maintaining plant greenness and stomatal opening under water shortage and elevated temperatures ( Dactylis and Festuca ) were impacted less than those which could not (both Lolium cultivars). These results indicate that not only differences in resource‐extraction traits but also the ability of a species to buffer its surrounding microclimatic conditions shapes its response to future climate change. Given the indirect positive effects such temperature‐buffering traits may have on soil functioning (e.g., reduced soil respiration during heat waves limiting carbon loss), we argue that managers should also incorporate such traits when developing climate‐proof forage grasslands.

Local‐ and Regional‐Scale Climate Variability Drives Complex Patterns of Growth Synchrony and Asynchrony in Deep‐Sea Snappers Across the Indo‐Pacific - Joseph B. Widdrington; Patrick Reis‐Santos; Jed I. Macdonald; Bradley R. Moore; Simon J. Nicol; John R. Morrongiello; Bronwyn M. Gillanders (Global Change Biology, 2025)
Climatic variation can play a critical role in driving synchronous and asynchronous patterns in the expression of life history characteristics across vast spatiotemporal scales. The synchronisation of traits, such as an individual's growth rate, under environmental stress may indicate a loss of phenotypic diversity and thus increased population vulnerability to stochastic deleterious events. In contrast, synchronous growth under favourable ecological conditions and asynchrony during unfavourable conditions may help population resilience and buffer against the negative implications of future environmental variability. Despite the significant implications of growth synchrony and asynchrony to population productivity and persistence, little is known about its causes and consequences either within or among fish populations. This is especially true for long‐lived deep‐sea species that inhabit environments characterised by large‐scale interannual and decadal changes, which could propagate growth synchrony across vast distances. We developed otolith growth chronologies for three deep‐sea fishes ( Etelis spp.) over 65° of longitude and 20° of latitude across the Indo‐Pacific region. Using reconstructed time series of interannual growth from six distinct Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs), we assessed the level of spatial synchrony at the individual‐, population‐ and species‐scale. Across five decades of data, complex patterns of synchronous and asynchronous growth were apparent for adult populations within and among EEZs of the Pacific Ocean, mediated by shifts in oceanographic phenomena such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Overall, our results indicate that the degree of synchrony in biological traits at depth depends on life history stage, spatiotemporal scales of environmental variability and the influence of ecological factors such as competition and dispersal. By determining the magnitude and timing of spatially synchronous growth at depth and its links to environmental variability, we can better understand fluctuations in deep‐sea productivity and its vulnerability to future environmental stressors, which are key considerations for sustainability.

Continent‐Wide Drivers of Spatial Synchrony in Breeding Demographic Structure Across Wild Great Tit Populations - Joe P. Woodman; Stefan J. G. Vriend; Frank Adriaensen; Elena Álvarez; Alexander Artemyev; Emilio Barba; Malcolm D. Burgess; Samuel P. Caro; Laure Cauchard; Anne Charmantier; Ella F. Cole; Niels Dingemanse; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2025)
Variation in age structure influences population dynamics, yet we have limited understanding of the spatial scale at which its fluctuations are synchronised between populations. Using 32 great tit populations, spanning 4° W–33° E and 35°–65° N involving > 130,000 birds across 67 years, we quantify spatial synchrony in breeding demographic structure (subadult vs. adult breeders) and its drivers. We show that larger clutch sizes, colder winters, and larger beech crops lead to younger populations. We report distance‐dependent synchrony of demographic structure, maintained at approximately 650 km. Despite covariation with demographic structure, we do not find evidence for environmental variables influencing the scale of synchrony, except for beech masting. We suggest that local ecological and density‐dependent dynamics impact how environmental variation interacts with demographic structure, influencing estimates of the environment's effect on synchrony. Our analyses demonstrate the operation of synchrony in demographic structure over large scales, with implications for age‐dependent demography in populations.

An interdisciplinary approach to improving conservation outcomes for parasites - Timothy M. Brown; Alison M. Dunn; Rupert J. Quinnell; Ellen Clarke; Andrew A. Cunningham; Simon J. Goodman (Conservation Biology, 2025)
Parasites represent a significant proportion of Earth's biodiversity and play important roles in the ecology and biology of ecosystems and hosts, making them an important target for conservation. Despite increasing calls to prioritize protection for parasites in the academic literature, they remain undervalued and underrepresented in global biodiversity conservation efforts, not least due to the perception that the interests of parasite and host conservation are opposing and the common misconception that parasites are a threat, rather than a benefit, to conservation. We considered whether taking an interdisciplinary approach to parasite conservation research will generate novel insights and solutions concerning why and how parasite conservation should be practiced for the benefit of parasites, their hosts, ecosystems, and people. We argue that 2 of the main barriers to more widespread parasite conservation are the knowledge gap concerning the role of sociocultural factors affecting the willingness to enact parasite conservation and the lack of a consistent and cohesive philosophical basis for parasite conservation. Possible sociocultural barriers to parasite conservation include misconceptions of the risks posed by parasites, taxonomic bias, differences in conservation values, economic constraints, and technical challenges. The use of social science can generate insights into levels of awareness and support for parasite conservation and improve understanding of how human values and attitudes mediate conservation practices concerning parasites. Such knowledge will have a critical role in addressing sociocultural barriers and improving support for parasite conservation. Issues with the current philosophical basis for parasite conservation include contradictory accounts of which parasites merit conservation, insufficient explanation of how different conservation values apply to parasite biodiversity, and the existence of a false antagonism between host and parasite conservation. Greater engagement with philosophical work on environmental ethics and biological unitization will strengthen existing arguments for parasite conservation and will support conservation decision‐making processes.

Retraction notice to “The anti-parasitic effect of Melaleuca alternifolia oil against gills monogeneans (Dactylogyrus spp) infestation of Clarias gariepinus: Hematology, immune response, and histopathological/immunohistochemical investigation of gills” [Aquaculture 584 (2024) 740639] - Afaf N. Abdel Rahman; Mohamed F.M. Farag; Alshimaa A. Khalil; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Shimaa R. Masoud; Shefaa M. Bazeed; Aya Elgamal; Refaat Ras; Simon J. Davies; Rowida E. Ibrahim; Amany M. Abd El-Ghany (Aquaculture, 2025)

Lead toxicity in African catfish: Promising role of magnetite nanogel against etho-neurological alterations, antioxidant suppression, gene toxicity, and histopathological/ immunohistochemical disruptions - Afaf N. Abdel Rahman; Heba H. Mahboub; Rasha M.M. Ezz-Eldin; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Tarek Khamis; Enas K. Aziz; Walaa A.A. Basha; Ibrahim Elmaghraby; Simon J. Davies; Sameh H. Ismail; Yasmin A. Reyad (Aquaculture, 2025)

Amending the European fishing fleet segmentation based on machine learning and multivariate statistics - E. Sulanke; V. Rubel; J. Berkenhagen; M. Bernreuther; T. Stoeck; S. Simons (Fisheries Research, 2025)

Avenues towards reconciling wild and managed bee proponents - Alexis L. Beaurepaire; Katja Hogendoorn; David Kleijn; Gard W. Otis; Simon G. Potts; Theresa L. Singer; Samuel Boff; Christian Pirk; Josef Settele; Robert J. Paxton; Nigel E. Raine; Simone Tosi; et al. (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2025)

Analysis of biokinetic parameters reveals patterns in mercury accumulation across aquatic species - Louise M. Stevenson; Paul G. Matson; Rachel M. Pilla; Simon Pouil; Tom J. Geeza; Amber Hills; Zapporah Ellis; Sydney Smith; Teresa J. Mathews (Science of The Total Environment, 2025)

Demonstrating a biobased concept for the production of sustainable bacterial cellulose from mixed textile, agricultural and municipal wastes - Alexandra Lanot; Shivam Tiwari; Philip Purnell; Abdalla M. Omar; Miriam Ribul; Daniel J. Upton; Heather Eastmond; Ishrat J. Badruddin; Hannah F. Walker; Angharad Gatenby; Sharon Baurley; Paulo J.D.S. Bartolo; et al. (Journal of Cleaner Production, 2025)

Adsorption pathways of boron on clay and their implications for boron cycling on land and in the ocean - Simon J. Ring; Michael J. Henehan; Roberts Blukis; Friedhelm von Blanckenburg (Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2025)

Corrigendum to “Clinically and industrially relevant incurred reference materials to improve analysis of food allergens, milk, egg, almond, hazelnut and walnut” [Food Chemistry 434 (2024) 137391] - Gill Holcombe; Michael J. Walker; Malvinder Singh; Kirstin Gray; Simon Cowen; Stephen L.R. Ellison; Adrian Rogers; Anuradha Balasundaram; Malcolm Burns; E.N. Clare Mills (Food Chemistry, 2025)

Effect of short-term dopamine reduction on insulin sensitivity and post-prandial insulin and glucose responses in Standardbred horses - Nicolas C. Galinelli; Nicholas J. Bamford; Madison L. Erdody; Tobias Warnken; Melody A. de Laat; Martin N. Sillence; Patricia A. Harris; Simon R. Bailey (Domestic Animal Endocrinology, 2025)

Physiological and metabolic effects of short-term dopamine reduction in healthy horses using a tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitor (alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine) - Nicolas C. Galinelli; Nicholas J. Bamford; Madison L. Erdody; Tobias Warnken; Melody A. de Laat; Martin N. Sillence; Patricia A. Harris; Simon R. Bailey (Domestic Animal Endocrinology, 2025)

The molecular structure of an axle-less F1-ATPase - Emily J. Furlong; Ian-Blaine P. Reininger-Chatzigiannakis; Yi C. Zeng; Simon H.J. Brown; Meghna Sobti; Alastair G. Stewart (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Bioenergetics, 2025)

Severe Outcomes in Suspected Pediatric Delta-8-THC Exposures - Simon J. Ostrowski; Matthew P. Scanlon; David J. Barton; Michael J. Lynch; William J. Trautman (Journal of Medical Toxicology, 2025)

Comparison of Laboratory Confirmed Drugs in Acute Recreational Drug Toxicity Presentations to an Urban Hospital in London, UK, 2016/17 versus 2019/20 - Caitlin E Wolfe; Lachlan J Sund; John RH Archer; Ashley Rowe; Simon Hudson; David M Wood; Paul I Dargan (Journal of Medical Toxicology, 2025)
Introduction Novel Psychoactive Substance (NPS) use is increasingly prevalent and is often associated with severe acute recreational drug toxicity (ARDT). 258 UK deaths were attributed to NPS use in 2021. Confirmatory testing which identifies NPS is limited by expense and timeliness. We aimed to identify NPS and other recreational drugs in a sample of 1000 ARDT presentations to a central London hospital in 2019/20 and to compare these drugs to those identified from a previous cohort in 2016/2017. Methods We prospectively enrolled 1000 serum samples from ARDT presentations to St Thomas’ Hospital between February 2019 and February 2020. Serum samples were deidentified and underwent qualitative analysis via mass spectrometry. Results were returned at the conclusion of testing and statistical analysis performed using ‘R’ (R Foundation for Statistical Computing). Results Twenty-eight unique NPS were detected in 2019/20, compared to 31 in 2016/17. Eight new NPS were detected in 2019/20: four benzodiazepines, two synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists, one cathinone and one ketamine-analogue. No NPS opioids were detected in either cohort. Cannabis (16%,11% p = 0.02), ketamine (12%,7% p < 0.01) and opioids (57%,24% p < 0.01) were detected significantly more frequently in 2019/20 than in 2016/17, while alcohol (22%,49% p < 0.01), cathinones (1%,15% p < 0.01), GHB (14%,20% p < 0.01) and MDMA (9%,18% p < 0.01) were detected less frequently. Conclusions Studies that utilise confirmatory testing to detect NPS in presentations of ARDT provide important information for public health interventions. More NPS benzodiazepines and fewer NPS cathinones were detected in 2019/20, following temporal trends of forensic detection throughout Europe and reinforcing the importance of identifying emerging drugs.

Marked Variability in Distance‐Decay Patterns Suggests Contrasting Dispersal Ability in Abyssal Taxa - Erik Simon‐Lledó; Andrés Baselga; Carola Gómez‐Rodríguez; Anna Metaxas; Diva J. Amon; Guadalupe Bribiesca‐Contreras; Jennifer M. Durden; Bethany Fleming; Alejandra Mejía‐Saenz; Sergi Taboada; Loïc Van Audenhaege; Daniel O. B. Jones (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2025)
Aim We assess the role of spatial distance and depth difference in shaping beta diversity patterns across abyssal seascape regions. We measured the decrease of faunistic similarity across the northeast Pacific seafloor, to test whether species turnover rates differ between deep and shallow‐abyssal biogeographical provinces and whether these patterns vary across functionally or taxonomically different biotic groups. Location Abyssal NE Pacific Ocean. Time Period Present. Major Taxa Studied Benthic Invertebrates (13 Phyla). Methods We examined the relationship between compositional similarity (𝛽 sim ) and spatial distance, distance‐decay, in benthic megafauna communities (animals > 10 mm) based on seabed imagery data (> 36,000 specimens in 402 species) collected across 28 abyssal seascape locations spanning a total of 4000 km. By comparing the statistical parameters (intercept and slope) of decay curves, we investigated whether distance‐decay patterns differ (i) between communities above and below the carbonate compensation depth (~4400 m at N Pacific), (ii) among taxa with contrasting life‐habits and (ii) across dominant phyla. Results We found steeper species turnover rates in communities below 4400 m and variations in distance‐decay patterns across biotic groups. Turnover was higher for taxa facultatively growing on hard‐substratum patches (polymetallic nodules) than for sediment‐dwelling or swimming organisms. Cnidaria and Porifera, respectively, depicted the most and least evident spatial decays in community similarity. Main Conclusions We demonstrate the utility of combining seabed imaging with distance‐decay modelling to capture macroecological patterns in poorly explored deep‐sea ecosystems. Our results suggest that chemical boundaries associated with depth are a very relevant niche‐sorting mechanism driving large‐scale beta‐diversity patterns and an association between species life‐habits and dispersal limitation in abyssal seabed communities. These findings have important implications for biodiversity conservation plans in the deep ocean, amid the need to protect vast abyssal seascape ecosystems from globally rising human threats.

The Breeding Bird Survey of the United Kingdom - Dario Massimino; Stephen R. Baillie; Dawn E. Balmer; Richard I. Bashford; Richard D. Gregory; Sarah J. Harris; James J. N. Heywood; Leah A. Kelly; David G. Noble; James W. Pearce‐Higgins; Michael J. Raven; Kate Risely; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2025)
Motivation Information on species' population trends is essential to assess species' conservation status, make informed environmental decisions and ultimately reduce biodiversity loss. Robust population trends require a long‐term monitoring programme, often using citizen scientists, that ideally generates representative and unbiased data from the study area. Here we present the dataset of the Breeding Bird Survey, the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of common and widespread breeding birds in the United Kingdom, which achieves this through a randomised sampling scheme and defined field methodology. We also describe the modelling approach used to calculate the population trends, which are the main output of the survey. Main Types of Variable Contained The main published dataset contains 7,070,577 records detailing counts of 217 bird species in 7010 grid cells over 30 years. Data for 78 species that are currently regarded as too sensitive to be released at fine resolution are omitted. As an illustration of the main use of this dataset, we provide population change estimates for 119 bird species. Spatial Location and Grain Grid squares (1 × 1 km) are randomly selected using a stratified sampling scheme throughout the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Data in a grid square are collected along two 1‐km‐long transects which are subdivided into 200‐m‐long sections. Time Period and Grain Data have been collected every year since 1994, with two major disruptions in 2001 and 2020, when people's movements were nationally restricted. Grid squares are surveyed twice a year during the main breeding season (April to June). Here we present the data collected from 1994 to 2023. Major Taxa Studied and Level of Measurement Bird species. Software Format Data are supplied as comma‐separated text files.

Land Use Change Consistently Reduces α‐ But Not β‐ and γ‐Diversity of Bees - Toby P. N. Tsang; A. A. Amado De Santis; Gabriela Armas‐Quiñonez; John S. Ascher; Eva Samanta Ávila‐Gómez; András Báldi; Kimberly M. Ballare; Mario V. Balzan; Weronika Banaszak‐Cibicka; Svenja Bänsch; Yves Basset; Adam J. Bates; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2025)
Land use change threatens global biodiversity and compromises ecosystem functions, including pollination and food production. Reduced taxonomic α‐diversity is often reported under land use change, yet the impacts could be different at larger spatial scales (i.e., γ‐diversity), either due to reduced β‐diversity amplifying diversity loss or increased β‐diversity dampening diversity loss. Additionally, studies often focus on taxonomic diversity, while other important biodiversity components, including phylogenetic diversity, can exhibit differential responses. Here, we evaluated how agricultural and urban land use alters the taxonomic and phylogenetic α‐, β‐, and γ‐diversity of an important pollinator taxon—bees. Using a multicontinental dataset of 3117 bee assemblages from 157 studies, we found that taxonomic α‐diversity was reduced by 16%–18% in both agricultural and urban habitats relative to natural habitats. Phylogenetic α‐diversity was decreased by 11%–12% in agricultural and urban habitats. Compared with natural habitats, taxonomic and phylogenetic β‐diversity increased by 11% and 6% in urban habitats, respectively, but exhibited no systematic change in agricultural habitats. We detected a 22% decline in taxonomic γ‐diversity and a 17% decline in phylogenetic γ‐diversity in agricultural habitats, but γ‐diversity of urban habitats was not significantly different from natural habitats. These findings highlight the threat of agricultural expansions to large‐scale bee diversity due to systematic γ‐diversity decline. In addition, while both urbanization and agriculture lead to consistent declines in α‐diversity, their impacts on β‐ or γ‐diversity vary, highlighting the need to study the effects of land use change at multiple scales.

Insights Into Phylogeny, Diversity and Functional Potential of Poseidoniales Viruses - Apoorva Prabhu; Julian Zaugg; Cheong Xin Chan; Simon J. McIlroy; Chris Rinke (Environmental Microbiology, 2025)
Viruses infecting archaea play significant ecological roles in marine ecosystems through host infection and lysis, yet they have remained an underexplored component of the virosphere. In this study, we recovered 451 archaeal viruses from a subtropical estuary, identifying 63 that are associated with the dominant marine order Poseidoniales (Marine Group II Archaea). Phylogenetic analyses of a subset of complete and nearly‐complete viral genomes assigned these viruses to the order Magrovirales , a lineage of Poseidoniales viruses, and identified a novel group of viruses distinct from Magrovirales . Utilising demarcation criteria established for the classification of archaeal tailed viruses, we propose two families within the order Magrovirales: Apasviridae (magrovirus group A), comprising the genera Agnivirus and Savitrvirus, and Krittikaviridae (magrovirus group E) encompassing the genus Velanvirus. Additionally, we propose a new order, distinct from Magrovirales , named Adrikavirales, which includes the genus Vyasavirus. Our detailed genomic characterisation of the new viral lineages revealed genes involved in viral assembly and egress, such as those responsible for creating holin rafts to lyse host cell membranes, a feature predominantly known from bacteriophages. Furthermore, we identified a broad spectrum of auxiliary metabolic genes, suggesting that these viruses can modulate host metabolism. Collectively, our findings substantially enhance the current understanding of the diversity and functional potential of Poseidoniales viruses.

Seroprevalence and risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii exposure in Australian feral and stray cats using an in-house modified agglutination test - K.L.D. Tharaka D. Liyanage; Jemima Amery-Gale; Alessandro D. Uboldi; Katherine Adriaanse; Simon M. Firestone; Christopher J. Tonkin; Abdul Jabbar; Jasmin Hufschmid (Veterinary Parasitology, 2024)

Cross-cutting studies of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in Arctic wildlife and humans - Rainer Lohmann; Khaled Abass; Eva Cecilie Bonefeld-Jørgensen; Rossana Bossi; Rune Dietz; Steve Ferguson; Kim J. Fernie; Philippe Grandjean; Dorte Herzke; Magali Houde; Mélanie Lemire; Robert J. Letcher; et al. (Science of The Total Environment, 2024)

The EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission: Initial scientific results two years after launch - Sabine Chabrillat; Saskia Foerster; Karl Segl; Alison Beamish; Maximilian Brell; Saeid Asadzadeh; Robert Milewski; Kathrin J. Ward; Arlena Brosinsky; Katrin Koch; Daniel Scheffler; Stephane Guillaso; et al. (Remote Sensing of Environment, 2024)

Food system adaptation and maintaining trade could mitigate global famine in abrupt sunlight reduction scenarios - Morgan Rivers; Michael Hinge; Kevin Rassool; Simon Blouin; Florian U. Jehn; Juan B. García Martínez; Vasco Amaral Grilo; Victor Jaeck; Ross J. Tieman; James Mulhall; Talib E. Butt; David C. Denkenberger (Global Food Security, 2024)

Bioaccumulation of β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) by mussels exposed to the cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa - Siobhan J. Peters; Simon M. Mitrovic; Kenneth J. Rodgers; David P. Bishop (Environmental Pollution, 2024)

Weak paleointensities from 1.6 Ga Greenland dykes: Further evidence for a billion-year period of paleomagnetic dipole low during the Paleoproterozoic - Simon J. Lloyd; Andrew J. Biggin; Henry Halls; Steve Denyszyn (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2024)

Effects of dietary Arthrospira platensis phycocyanin on growth, fatty acid assessment of breast muscles, hematobiochemical, immunological responses, and hepatic histomorphology in broiler chickens - Shimaa A. Amer; Amany Behairy; Amr A. Moustafa; Azhar Eltanahy; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Warith; Ali Osman; Ahmed Gouda; Simon J. Davies; Samar A. Tolba (Journal of Applied Phycology, 2024)

The conservation island effect of commercial hunting of red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) in agricultural landscapes - Alberto Sánchez-Cano; Javier Fernandez-de-Simon; Antonio J. Carpio; Patricia Barroso; Beatriz Cardoso; Jon Ander Zearra; Ursula Höfle; Christian Gortázar (European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2024)

Tetracycline and Oxacillin Act Synergistically on Biofilms and Display Increased Efficacy In Vivo Against Staphylococcus aureus - Amy K. Tooke; Rebecca E. Hodges; Josie F. Pyrah; Kenneth W. Bayles; Stephen A. Renshaw; Simon J. Foster (Current Microbiology, 2024)
Oxacillin (bactericidal) and tetracycline (bacteriostatic) are clinically relevant antibiotics that are routinely prescribed to treat Staphylococcus aureus infections but not conventionally used in combination. There is an urgent need for treatment regimens that can act upon biofilms during infection, associated with chronic infections on indwelling devices, as well as acute planktonic (systemic) infection. Here we show that in an in vitro model oxacillin and tetracycline act synergistically against S. aureus UAMS-1 biofilms, reducing the concentration of both antibiotics necessary to eradicate an established biofilm. Using an in vivo zebrafish larval infection model with S. aureus NewHG, they display improved bacterial clearance compared to each drug alone and can counteract a loss of host phagocytes, an important innate defence against S. aureus . In these cases, the bacteriostatic nature of tetracycline enhances rather than dampens the bactericidal action of oxacillin, although an exact mechanism remains to be elucidated. We suggest a dual therapy could be of clinical use against biofilm-forming S. aureus and has a potential use in patients with a compromised immune system.

Antagonistic Effect of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Dietary Supplementation Against Chronic Copper Waterborne Exposure on Growth, Behavioral, Biochemical, and Gene Expression Alterations of African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) - Shaimaa A. A. Ahmed; Rowida E. Ibrahim; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Khaled Yehia Faroh; Samar A. El Gamal; Shereen Badr; Tarek Khamis; Abdallah Tageldein Mansour; Simon J. Davies; Mohamed ElHady (Biological Trace Element Research, 2024)

Microbial Sulfur Pathways and Outcomes in Tailings Impoundments: A Mesocosm Study - Jay Gordon; Simon C. Apte; Tara E. Colenbrander Nelson; Kelly J. Whaley-Martin; Lauren E. Twible; LinXing Chen; Felicia Liu; Samantha McGarry; Jillian F. Banfield; Lesley A. Warren (Mine Water and the Environment, 2024)

Life in the margins: the effect of immersion/emersion and tidal cycle on the North Atlantic limpet Patella vulgata protein synthesis rates - Ignacio A. Cienfuegos; Benjamin J. Ciotti; Richard A. Billington; Paul A. Sutton; Simon G. Lamarre; Keiron P. P. Fraser (Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 2024)

Soil characteristics drive contrasting patterns of association between symbiotic rhizobia of endemic and widespread Mimosa species in Brazil - Luc Rouws; Alexandre Barauna; Chrizelle Beukes; Janaina R.C. Rouws; Sergio Miana de Faria; Eduardo Gross; Fabio Bueno dos Reis; Marcelo F. Simon; Marta Maluk; David W. Odee; Stephanie Fordeyn; Gregory Kenicer; et al. (Applied Soil Ecology, 2024)

Evaluating the effectiveness & costs of strategies post-eradication to monitor for freedom from BVDV infection in Ireland - Jonas Brock; Maria Guelbenzu-Gonzalo; Martin Lange; Jamie A. Tratalos; Damien Barrett; Liz Lane; Simon J. More; David A. Graham; Hans-Hermann Thulke (Agricultural Systems, 2024)

Escaping the cohort of concern: in vitro experimental evidence supports non-mutagenicity of N-nitroso-hydrochlorothiazide - R. D. Gandhi; S. Hickert; Y. Hoevelmann; C. D. Mee; J. Schlingemann; A. Adams; A. Blanazs; S. Simon; J. Elloway; L. Rigger; A. Teasdale; C. V. Beaumont; et al. (Archives of Toxicology, 2024)

Camel whey protein hydrolysate diet mitigates alkaline stress–induced biochemical disorders and restores the target of rapamycin, MAPK pathway, and autophagy-related gene expression in Nile tilapia - Rowida E. Ibrahim; Gehad E. Elshopakey; Mohamed Y. M. Aly; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Yasmina M. Abd-Elhakim; Tarek Khamis; Ali Osman; Mohamed M. M. Metwally; Simon J. Davies; Amany Abdel-Rahman Mohamed (Aquaculture International, 2024)

Using moringa (Moringa oleifera) seed protein hydrolysate as a dietary protein supplement modulates hemato-biochemical indices, antioxidant response, and tissue histo-morphology of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) - Rowida E. Ibrahim; Shimaa A. Amer; Nasreddin R. Rhouma; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Heba M. Abdel-Ghany; Gehad E. Elshobaky; Mahmoud M. El-Saber; Ali Osman; Simon J. Davies; Afaf N. Abdel Rahman (Aquaculture International, 2024)

Efficacy of the dietary Malva parviflora leaves in modulating immune-antioxidant functions, resistance to Candida albicans and Streptococcus agalactiae infection, digestive/absorptive capacity, and growth of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) - Afaf N. Abdel Rahman; Yasmin A. Reyad; Gehad E. Elshopakey; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Nehal Abd EL-Mageed; Afaf A. Kishta; Asmaa Yaseen; Simon J. Davies; Rowida E. Ibrahim (Aquaculture International, 2024)

Influence of astaxanthin-enriched Haematococcus pluvialis microalgae on the growth efficacy, immune response, antioxidant capacity, proinflammatory cytokines, and tissue histomorphology of hybrid red tilapia - Elsayed A. A. Eldessouki; Gehad E. Elshopakey; Samia Elbahnaswy; Medhat S. Shakweer; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Simon J. Davies; Amira Mili; Yasmin M. Abd El-Aziz; Sameh A. Abdelnour; El-Sayed Hemdan Eissa (Aquaculture International, 2024)

The influence of various doses of Moringa oleifera extract on the antioxidant trait, cytokines, reproductive hormones performance, and gonadal histological profiles of Nile tilapia - Fatma Abdel-monem Gad; Mahamoud Abdelghaffar Emam; Ramy M. Shourbela; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Simon J. Davies; Heba H. Mahboub; Hiam Elabd (Aquaculture International, 2024)

Orthopteran Neo‐Sex Chromosomes Reveal Dynamics of Recombination Suppression and Evolution of Supergenes - Suvratha Jayaprasad; Valentina Peona; Simon J. Ellerstrand; Roberto Rossini; Ignas Bunikis; Olga V. Pettersson; Remi‐André Olsen; Carl‐Johan Rubin; Elisabet Einarsdottir; Franziska Bonath; Tessa M. Bradford; Steven J. B. Cooper; et al. (Molecular Ecology, 2024)
The early evolution of sex chromosomes has remained obscure for more than a century. The Vandiemenella viatica species group of morabine grasshoppers is highly suited for studying the early stages of sex chromosome divergence and degeneration of the Y chromosome. This stems from the fact that neo‐XY sex chromosomes have independently evolved multiple times by X‐autosome fusions with different autosomes. Here, we generated new chromosome‐level assemblies for two chromosomal races representing karyotypes with and without neo‐sex chromosomes (P24XY and P24X0), and sequence data of a third chromosomal race with a different neo‐XY chromosome system (P25XY). Interestingly, these two neo‐XY chromosomal races are formed by different X‐autosome fusions (involving chr1 and chrB, respectively), and we found that both neo‐Y chromosomes have partly ceased to recombine with their neo‐X counterpart. We show that the neo‐XY chromosomes have diverged through accumulation of SNPs and structural mutations, and that many neo‐Y‐linked genes have degenerated since recombination ceased. However, the non‐recombining regions of neo‐Y chromosomes host non‐degenerated genes crucial for sex determination, such as sex‐lethal and transformer , alongside genes associated with spermatogenesis, fertility, and reproduction, illustrating their integrative role as a masculinizing supergene. Contrary to expectations, the neo‐Y chromosomes showed (slightly) lower density of transposable elements (TEs) compared to other genomic regions. The study reveals the unique dynamics of young sex chromosomes, with evolution of recombination suppression and pronounced decay of (some) neo‐sex chromosome genes, and provides a compelling case illustrating how chromosomal fusions and post‐fusion mutational processes contribute to the evolution of supergenes.

Fish–Seascape Associations Within an Offshore Protected Area in the Arabian Gulf - Holly Kembrey; Simon J. Pittman; Ivonne Bejarano; María del Pilar Blanco‐Parra; Rima W. Jabado; Fadi Yaghmour; Daniel Mateos‐Molina (Marine Ecology, 2024)
Coral reef ecosystems support high fish biodiversity through ecological interactions with structural complexity across multiple spatial scales including coral colony architecture and the surrounding seascape structure. In an era where the complexity of coral reef ecosystems is being diminished, understanding the importance of structural characteristics beyond single focal patches has the potential to better inform actions for protecting, restoring or creating habitat for reef‐associated species. A seascape ecology approach was applied to explore the associations between multiple scales of seascape structure and fish assemblage response variables within a small (49.6 km 2 ) offshore no‐take MPA, Sir Bu Nair Island Protected Area, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Fish–seascape associations were modelled with single regression trees. Both in situ and remote sensing–derived variables produced the best models with highest contributions from coral cover, amount of hard‐bottom habitat type and structural complexity of the seafloor terrain. Fish species richness was significantly higher where coral cover exceeded 35%. The hard‐bottom areas with coral supported diverse assemblages dominated by carnivorous and omnivorous fishes. The Sir Bu Nair Island Protected Area provides a critical refuge for threatened and regionally overexploited species including those with low resilience to fishing. The ecological success of this protected area is key to safeguarding regional marine biodiversity and recovering fish populations to enhance food security.

Unifying Coral Reef States Through Space and Time Reveals a Changing Ecosystem - Simon J. Brandl; Jérémy Carlot; Rick D. Stuart‐Smith; Sally A. Keith; Nicholas A. J. Graham; Graham J. Edgar; Jérémy Wicquart; Shaun K. Wilson; Rucha Karkarey; Mary K. Donovan; Jesus E. Arias‐Gonzalez; Rohan Arthur; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2024)
Aim Ecological state shifts that alter the structure and function of entire ecosystems are a concerning consequence of human impact. Yet, when, where and why discrete ecological states emerge remains difficult to predict and monitor, especially in high‐diversity systems. We sought to quantify state shifts and their drivers through space and time in the most ecologically complex marine ecosystem: tropical coral reefs. Location Worldwide. Time Period 1987–2019. Major Taxa Studied Coral reef communities. Methods Using a global dataset of 3375 coral reef surveys, along with 13 time series datasets ranging between 1987 and 2019, we applied a novel double‐dichotomy approach to classify coral reefs into four simplified and discrete states based on the relative contributions of corals versus algae to benthic cover and small‐bodied versus large‐bodied fishes to fish standing stock. We then examined state shifts considering a range of spatial predictors and tested whether states have shifted directionally over time, and the nature of the most common transitions. Results We show that geographic, environmental and anthropogenic context fundamentally shapes coral reef states at the local scale, which explains disparities among case studies, and stakes out critical baseline expectations for regional management efforts. We also reveal clear multi‐decadal state shifts on coral reefs: over time, systems dominated by reef‐building corals and small‐bodied, planktivorous fishes tend to have been replaced with reefs characterised by algae and larger‐bodied fishes. Main Conclusions Our results suggest a previously unrecognised transition from systems that harness external subsidies through small‐bodied consumers associated with structurally complex live corals, to herbivore‐dominated systems with stronger bottom‐up dynamics. Overall, the partitioning of complex reef ecosystems into a small suite of discrete ecological states suggests that spatial context‐dependency, shifting baselines and changes in reef functioning are crucial considerations for coral reef management in the 21st century.

Oxylipin Receptors and Their Role in Inter‐Partner Signalling in a Model Cnidarian‐Dinoflagellate Symbiosis - Andrea G. Gamba; Clinton A. Oakley; Immy A. Ashley; Arthur R. Grossman; Virginia M. Weis; David J. Suggett; Simon K. Davy (Environmental Microbiology, 2024)
Oxylipin signalling is central in biology, mediating processes such as cellular homeostasis, inflammation and molecular signalling. It may also facilitate inter‐partner communication in the cnidarian‐dinoflagellate symbiosis, though this aspect remains understudied. In this study, four oxylipin receptors were characterised using immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting in the sea anemone Exaiptasia diaphana (‘Aiptasia’): Prostaglandin E2 receptor 2 (EP2) and 4 (EP4), Transient Receptor Potential cation channel A1 (TRPA1) and Glutamate Receptor Ionotropic, Kainate 2 (GRIK2). Receptor abundance and localisation were compared between aposymbiotic anemones and symbiotic anemones hosting either native Breviolum minutum or non‐native Durusdinium trenchii . All receptors were localised to the putative symbiosome of freshly isolated symbionts, suggesting a role in host‐symbiont crosstalk. EP2, EP4 and TRPA1 abundance decreased in the gastrodermis of anemones hosting B . minutum , indicating potential downregulation of pathways mediated by these receptors. In contrast, GRIK2 abundance increased in anemones hosting D . trenchii in both the epidermis and gastrodermis; GRIK2 acts as a chemosensor of potential pathogens in other systems and could play a similar role here given D . trenchii 's reputation as a sub‐optimal partner for Aiptasia. This study contributes to the understanding of oxylipin signalling in the cnidarian‐dinoflagellate symbiosis and supports further exploration of host‐symbiont molecular signalling.

Effects of climate warming on energetics and habitat of the world's largest marine ectotherm - Samantha D. Reynolds; Craig E. Franklin; Bradley M. Norman; Anthony J. Richardson; Jason D. Everett; David S. Schoeman; Craig R. White; Christopher L. Lawson; Simon J. Pierce; Christoph A. Rohner; Steffen S. Bach; Francesco G. Comezzi; et al. (Science of The Total Environment, 2024)

Interconnectivity can be as important as habitat type in explaining carbon stocks in the coastal lagoons of arid regions - Stephen Carpenter; Kostantinos A. Stamoulis; Daniel Mateos-Molina; Simon J. Pittman; Marina Antonopoulou; Himansu S. Das; Claire Evans (Science of The Total Environment, 2024)

Restorative function of offshore longline mussel farms with ecological benefits for commercial crustacean species - Thomas Stamp; Simon J. Pittman; Luke A. Holmes; Adam Rees; Benjamin J. Ciotti; Harry Thatcher; Peter Davies; Alice Hall; Georgia Wells; Anna Olczak; Emma V. Sheehan (Science of The Total Environment, 2024)

Past fire dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa during the last 25,000 years: Climate change and increasing human impacts - Laurent Bremond; Julie C. Aleman; Charly Favier; Olivier Blarquez; Daniele Colombaroli; Simon E. Connor; Carlos E. Cordova; Colin Courtney-Mustaphi; Abraham N. Dabengwa; Graciela Gil-Romera; William D. Gosling; Tamryn Hamilton; et al. (Quaternary International, 2024)

Increasing oil content in Brassica oilseed species - Randall J. Weselake; David A. Fell; Xiaoyu Wang; Simon Scofield; Guanqun Chen; John L. Harwood (Progress in Lipid Research, 2024)

Assessing the ecological functioning and biodiversity of remnant native flat oyster (Ostrea angasi) reefs in temperate southeast Australia - Elisabeth M.A. Strain; Ana B. Bugnot; Boze Hancock; Robinson W. Fulweiler; Donald J. Ross; Simon E. Reeves (Marine Environmental Research, 2024)

The many ages of Triton: New crater counts on the Voyager high-resolution image sequence and implications for impactor provenance - William B. McKinnon; Kelsi N. Singer; Stuart J. Robbins; Michelle R. Kirchoff; Simon B. Porter; Paul M. Schenk; Ted Stryk; Jeffrey M. Moore (Icarus, 2024)

Investigating the role of allelochemicals in the interaction between Alexandrium monilatum and other phytoplankton species - Sylvain Gaillard; Hamish J. Small; Nour Ayache; Simon Tanniou; Philipp Hess; Damien Réveillon; Constance M. Harris; Thomas M. Harris; Gail P. Scott; Alanna MacIntyre; Kimberly S. Reece (Harmful Algae, 2024)

Climate vulnerability of Nothofagus pumilio, Nothofagus dombeyi and Austrocedrus chilensis in northern Patagonia’s temperate forests - Ernesto J. Reiter; Robert Weigel; Helge Walentowski; Gabriel A. Loguercio; Jonas Fierke; Ariel F. Neri Winter; Alois Simon; Martyna M. Kotowska; Natalia Z. Joelson; Marina Caselli; Christoph Leuschner (Forest Ecology and Management, 2024)

Evidence for a metal disease refuge: The amphibian-killing fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) is inhibited by environmentally-relevant concentrations of metals tolerated by amphibians - Milad Esmaeilbeigi; Richard P. Duncan; Ben J. Kefford; Tariq Ezaz; Simon Clulow (Environmental Research, 2024)

The Current State of Biotransformation Science – Industry Survey of In Vitro and In Vivo Practices, Clinical Translation, and Future Trends - John P. Savaryn; Kevin Coe; Matthew A. Cerny; Kevin Colizza; Patricia Moliner; Lloyd King; Bin Ma; Jim Atherton; Adam Auclair; Mark T. Cancilla; Marsha Eno; Ulrik Jurva; et al. (Pharmaceutical Research, 2024)

Forecasting dead fuel moisture content below forest canopies – A seven-day forecasting system - Christopher Sean Lyell; Usha Nattala; Thomas Keeble; Elena M. Vella; Rakesh Chandra Joshi; Zaher Joukhadar; Jonathan Garber; Simon J Mutch; Tim Gazzard; Tom Duff; Gary Sheridan (Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 2024)

Changes to virus taxonomy and the ICTV Statutes ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2024) - Peter Simmonds; Evelien M. Adriaenssens; Elliot J. Lefkowitz; Hanna M. Oksanen; Stuart G. Siddell; Francisco Murilo Zerbini; Poliane Alfenas-Zerbini; Frank O. Aylward; Donald M. Dempsey; Bas E. Dutilh; Juliana Freitas-Astúa; María Laura García; et al. (Archives of Virology, 2024)
This article reports changes to virus taxonomy and taxon nomenclature that were approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in April 2024. The entire ICTV membership was invited to vote on 203 taxonomic proposals that had been approved by the ICTV Executive Committee (EC) in July 2023 at the 55th EC meeting in Jena, Germany, or in the second EC vote in November 2023. All proposals were ratified by online vote. Taxonomic additions include one new phylum ( Ambiviricota ), one new class, nine new orders, three new suborders, 51 new families, 18 new subfamilies, 820 new genera, and 3547 new species (excluding taxa that have been abolished). Proposals to complete the process of species name replacement to the binomial (genus + species epithet) format were ratified. Currently, a total of 14,690 virus species have been established.

Demographic History and Adaptive Evolution of Indo‐Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus ) in Western Australia - Svenja M. Marfurt; Delphine B. H. Chabanne; Samuel Wittwer; Manuela R. Bizzozzero; Simon J. Allen; Livia Gerber; Krista Nicholson; Michael Krützen (Molecular Ecology, 2024)
Demographic processes can substantially affect a species' response to changing ecological conditions, necessitating the combined consideration of genetic responses to environmental variables and neutral genetic variation. Using a seascape genomics approach combined with population demographic modelling, we explored the interplay of demographic and environmental factors that shaped the current population structure in Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus ) along the Western Australian coastline. We combined large‐scale environmental data gathered via remote sensing with RADseq genomic data from 133 individuals at 19 sampling sites. Using population genetic and outlier detection analyses, we identified three distinct genetic clusters, coinciding with tropical, subtropical and temperate provincial bioregions. In contrast to previous studies, our demographic models indicated that populations occupying the paleo‐shoreline split into two demographically independent lineages before the last glacial maximum (LGM). A subsequent split after the LGM 12—15 kya gave rise to the Shark Bay population, thereby creating the three currently observed clusters. Although multi‐locus heterozygosity declined from north to south, dolphins from the southernmost cluster inhabiting temperate waters had higher heterozygosity in potentially adaptive loci compared to dolphins from subtropical and tropical waters. These findings suggest ongoing adaptation to cold‐temperate waters in the southernmost cluster, possibly linked to distinct selective pressures between the different bioregions. Our study demonstrated that in the marine realm, without apparent physical boundaries, only a combined approach can fully elucidate the intricate environmental and genetic interactions shaping the evolutionary trajectory of marine mammals.

Testing molecular date estimates using an ecological and vicariant case study in treefrogs: The Geological‐Ecological Molecular Calibration - Michael J. Jowers; Jesús Muñoz Pajares; John Weber; Jeanette Arkle; Salvador Arenas‐Castro; Simon Y. W. Ho; Gilson A. Rivas; John C. Murphy; Amaël Borzée; R. Alexander Pyron; Marcos Perez‐Losada; Mayke De Freitas; et al. (Journal of Biogeography, 2024)
Aim To date a vicariant event through the mutualistic relationship of a hylid frog and its bromeliad host found across two isolated mountain ranges as part of an island–continental split and to use this information to calibrate a molecular dating analysis of hylids. Location South America. Time Period Pliocene. Major Taxa Studied Treefrogs, Arboranae. Methods Pliocene tectonic movements sank a portion of a mountain range that connected present‐day Trinidad (island) and northern Venezuela, eventually isolating populations of the golden tree frog Phytotriades auratus and its host bromeliad Glomeropitcairnia erectiflora on both sides of a saltwater barrier. We estimated the submersion rate timing of the vicariant event, then employed ecological niche modelling to establish the distribution of the frog and its host to the Pliocene. We generated nucleotide sequence data for the hylid on each side of the marine barrier and proposed a biogeographic calibration for the split between populations. Using Bayesian phylogenetic analysis, we evaluated the impact of incorporating this biogeographic calibration on estimates of treefrog divergence times. Results A relatively continuous, high‐elevation mountain range existed before the Pliocene and the opening of the Gulf of Paria (4.45 ± 0.85 Ma). Phytotriades auratus and G. erectiflora would have been distributed across the Paria and Northern Range mountains as a single population since the Pliocene. Divergence times among treefrogs (Arboranae) were older than those inferred using fossil calibrations alone, with mean age estimates for subfamilies and genera being ~2 and ~1.2 million years older, respectively. Main Conclusions Our study presents a biogeographic calibration based on a vicariant model that connects the evolution of the populations of a hylid through geology and ecological data. The implementation of this date as a molecular clock calibration reduces the uncertainty in date estimates for the shallower nodes in the phylogeny of Arboranae.

The legacy of STAHY: milestones, achievements, challenges, and open problems in statistical hydrology - Elena Volpi; Salvatore Grimaldi; Amir Aghakouchak; Attilio Castellarin; Fateh Chebana; Simon Michael Papalexiou; Hafzullah Aksoy; András Bárdossy; Antonino Cancelliere; Yuanfang Chen; Roberto Deidda; Uwe Haberlandt; et al. (Hydrological Sciences Journal, 2024)

Drivers of phytoplankton distribution, abundance and community composition off East Antarctica, from 55-80°E (CCAMLR Division 58.4.2 East) - Asta C. Heidemann; Karen J. Westwood; Annie Foppert; Simon W. Wright; Andreas Klocker; Clara R. Vives; Simon Wotherspoon; Sophie Bestley (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2024)
Southern Ocean phytoplankton form the base of the Antarctic food web, influencing higher trophic levels through biomass and community structure. We examined phytoplankton distribution and abundance in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean during austral summer as part a multidisciplinary ecosystem survey: Trends in Euphausiids off Mawson, Predators and Oceanography (TEMPO, 2021). Sampling covered six meridional transects from 55-80°E, and from 62°S or 63°S to the ice edge. To determine phytoplankton groups, CHEMTAX analysis was undertaken on pigments measured using HPLC. Diatoms were the dominant component of phytoplankton communities, explaining 56% of variation in chlorophyll a (Chl a ), with haptophytes also being a major component. Prior to sampling the sea ice had retreated in a south-westerly direction, leading to shorter ice-free periods in the west (< 44 days, ≤65°E) compared to east (> 44 days, ≥70°E), inducing a strong seasonal effect. The east was nutrient limited, indicated by low-iron forms of haptophytes, and higher silicate:nitrate drawdown ratios (5.1 east vs 4.3 west), pheophytin a (phaeo) concentrations (30.0 vs 18.4 mg m -2 ) and phaeo:Chl a ratios (1.06 vs 0.53). Biological influences were evident at northern stations between 75-80°E, where krill “super-swarms” and feeding whales were observed. Here, diatoms were depleted from surface waters likely due to krill grazing, as indicated by high phaeo:Chl a ratios (> 0.75), and continued presence of haptophytes, associated with inefficient filtering or selective grazing by krill. Oceanographic influences included deeper mixed layers reducing diatom biomass, and a bloom to the north of the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front in the western survey area thought to be sinking as waters flowed from west to east. Haptophytes were influenced by the Antarctic Slope Front with high-iron forms prevalent to the south only, showing limited iron transfer from coastal waters. Cryptophytes were associated with meltwater, and greens (chlorophytes + prasinophytes) were prevalent below the mixed layer. The interplay of seasonal, biological and oceanographic influences on phytoplankton populations during TEMPO had parallels with processes observed in the BROKE and BROKE-West voyages conducted 25 and 15 years earlier, respectively. Our research consolidates understanding of the krill ecosystem to ensure sustainable management in East Antarctic waters.

Increased 1H-NMR metabolomics-based health score associates with declined cognitive performance and functional independence in older adults at risk of cardiovascular disease - Michelle H. Zonneveld; Nour Al Kuhaili; Simon P. Mooijaart; P. Eline Slagboom; J. Wouter Jukema; Raymond Noordam; Stella Trompet (GeroScience, 2024)
The 1-HMR metabolomics-based MetaboHealth score, comprised of 14 serum metabolic markers, associates with disease-specific mortality, but it is unclear whether the score also reflects cognitive changes and functional impairment. We aimed to assess the associations between the MetaboHealth score with cognitive function and functional decline in older adults at increased cardiovascular risk. A total of 5292 older adults free of dementia at baseline with mean age 75.3 years (SD = 3.4) from the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly (PROSPER). MetaboHealth score were measured at baseline, and cognitive function and functional independence were measured at baseline and every 3 months during up to 2.5 years follow-up. Cognitive function was assessed using the Stroop test (selective attention), the Letter Digit Coding test (LDCT) (processing speed), and the two versions of the Picture Learning test (delayed and immediate; memory). Two tests of functional independence were used: Barthel Index (BI) and instrumental activities at daily living (IADL). A higher MetaboHealth score was associated with worse cognitive function (in all domains) and with worse functional independence. For example, after full adjustments, a 1-SD higher MetaboHealth score was associated with 9.02 s (95%CI 7.29, 10.75) slower performance on the Stroop test and 2.79 (2.21, 3.26) less digits coded on the LDCT. During follow-up, 1-SD higher MetaboHealth score was associated with an additional decline of 0.53 s (0.23, 0.83) on the Stroop test and − 0.08 (− 0.11, − 0.06) points on the IADL. Metabolic disturbance, as reflected by an increased metabolomics-based health score, may mark future cognitive and functional decline.

Effect of Electrode Distance and Size on Electrocorticographic Recordings in Human Sensorimotor Cortex - Simon H. Geukes; Mariana P. Branco; Erik J. Aarnoutse; Annike Bekius; Julia Berezutskaya; Nick F. Ramsey (Neuroinformatics, 2024)
Subdural electrocorticography (ECoG) is a valuable technique for neuroscientific research and for emerging neurotechnological clinical applications. As ECoG grids accommodate increasing numbers of electrodes and higher densities with new manufacturing methods, the question arises at what point the benefit of higher density ECoG is outweighed by spatial oversampling. To clarify the optimal spacing between ECoG electrodes, in the current study we evaluate how ECoG grid density relates to the amount of non-shared neurophysiological information between electrode pairs, focusing on the sensorimotor cortex. We simultaneously recorded high-density (HD, 3 mm pitch) and ultra-high-density (UHD, 0.9 mm pitch) ECoG, obtained intraoperatively from six participants. We developed a new metric, the normalized differential root mean square (ndRMS), to quantify the information that is not shared between electrode pairs. The ndRMS increases with inter-electrode center-to-center distance up to 15 mm, after which it plateaus. We observed differences in ndRMS between frequency bands, which we interpret in terms of oscillations in frequencies below 32 Hz with phase differences between pairs, versus (un)correlated signal fluctuations in the frequency range above 64 Hz. The finding that UHD recordings yield significantly higher ndRMS than HD recordings is attributed to the amount of tissue sampled by each electrode. These results suggest that ECoG densities with submillimeter electrode distances are likely justified.

The ADnet Bayesian belief network for alder decline: Integrating empirical data and expert knowledge - Inês Gomes Marques; Cristina Vieites-Blanco; Patricia M. Rodríguez-González; Pedro Segurado; Marlene Marques; Maria J. Barrento; Maria R. Fernandes; Arthur Cupertino; Helena Almeida; Idoia Biurrun; Tamara Corcobado; Filipe Costa e Silva; et al. (Science of The Total Environment, 2024)

Intertidal seagrass extent from Sentinel-2 time-series show distinct trajectories in Western Europe - Bede Ffinian Rowe Davies; Simon Oiry; Philippe Rosa; Maria Laura Zoffoli; Ana I. Sousa; Oliver R. Thomas; Dan A. Smale; Melanie C. Austen; Lauren Biermann; Martin J. Attrill; Alejandro Roman; Gabriel Navarro; et al. (Remote Sensing of Environment, 2024)

Malnutrition Risk Among Older Americans Act (OAA) Nutrition Program Participants in 2022 - L. McGrath; J. Gahche; J. Dwyer; M. Arensberg; S. Chao; J. Simon; L. Borth (Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 2024)

Boosting the response characteristics towards rapid detection of NO2 gas molecules utilizing 2D - WS2/rGO hybrid nanocomposites at ambient environment - D. Simon Patrick; J. Archana; M. Navaneethan; M. Krishna Mohan (Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 2024)

How can bottom-up citizen science restore public trust in environmental governance and sciences? Recommendations from three case studies - Artemis Skarlatidou; Muki Haklay; Simon Hoyte; Michiel van Oudheusden; Isabel J. Bishop (Environmental Science & Policy, 2024)

Hexaflumuron insecticide exposure induces behavior alterations, hemato-biochemical disorders, antioxidant-immune dysfunction, and histopathological alterations in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) - Rowida E. Ibrahim; Moustafa M. S. Fouda; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Eman Wagih; Basma A. Elshafey; Simon J. Davies; Afaf N. Abdel Rahman (Veterinary Research Communications, 2024)

Impact of Manufacturing Process and Compounding on Properties and Quality of Follow-On GLP-1 Polypeptide Drugs - Morten Hach; Dorthe Kot Engelund; Simon Mysling; Jesper Emil Mogensen; Ole Schelde; Kim F. Haselmann; Kasper Lamberth; Thomas Kvistgaard Vilhelmsen; Joan Malmstrøm; Kim Bonde Højlys-Larsen; Tina Secher Rasmussen; Jonas Borch-Jensen; et al. (Pharmaceutical Research, 2024)

Developing sustainable dairy farms in the tropics: From policy to practice - Titis Apdini; Corina E. van Middelaar; Simon J. Oosting (Agricultural Systems, 2024)

Modulating the growth, immune/antioxidant traits, immune-related genes, and resistance to Aeromonas veronii infection in Oreochromis niloticus reared under high stocking densities by dietary Lavandula angustifolia essential oil - Mohamed ElHady; Shimaa A. Amer; Elsayed M. Younis; Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Warith; Tarek Khamis; Ehab E. Nabawy; Simon J. Davies; Shaimaa A. A. Ahmed (Aquaculture International, 2024)

Toxicological insight of magnetite nanogel: neuro-ethological, hepato-renal, antioxidant, and histopathological traits in Clarias gariepinus - Samar Kamel; Shaimaa A. A. Ahmed; Asmaa Elsayyad; Abdelwahab A. Abdelwarith; Elsayed M. Younis; Mohamed Shaalan; Mohamed M. S. Gaballa; Heba H. Mahboub; Tarek Khamis; Sameh H. Ismail; Simon J. Davies; Zeinab Hassan (Aquaculture International, 2024)
Assessment of acute toxicity of magnetic nanogel (MNG) is crucial to conclude the safe applicable dose and to warrant its application in aquaculture. Therefore, the current study is a novel step to assess behavior, neuro-stress response, hepato-renal, oxidative, and histopathological variations produced by MNG’ acute toxicity in Clarias gariepinus . Two experiments were conducted: the first was a determination of the 96-h lethal concentration 50 (LC 50 ) of MNG in C. gariepinus . Meanwhile, the second was an assessment of the toxicological impacts of three different concentrations of MNG in C. gariepinus following a 10-day exposure period and a subsequent 10-day depuration trial. One hundred and eighty fish were allotted to four groups exposed to 0, 1/10, 1/8, or 1/5 96-h LC 50 of MNG. The outcomes exhibited that 96-h LC 50 of MNG for C. gariepinus was 44 mg/L. The subjected group to MNG induced a concentration-dependent elevation in the serum values of cortisol, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, urea, and creatinine following MNG exposure. Marked elevation in the oxidative stress indicators (catalase (CAT), glutathione S-transferase activity (GST), and superoxide dismutase (SOD)) was also evident. Meanwhile, the value of the neurological biomarker, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), was markedly reduced in a concentration-dependent way. These biochemical changes were complemented by pathological alterations in the hepato-renal architecture. Interestingly, in response to the 10-day depuration period, most of the tested parameters were eliminated in C. gariepinus exposed to 1/10 of LC 50 . Conclusively, MNG can induce numerous adverse effects only at higher doses (1/5 and 1/8 of LC 50 ). Meanwhile, the lowest tested concentration of MNG (1/10 of LC 50 ) was safe for application in aquaculture practices with only mild disruptions in the bio-indices. In addition, a retrieval period of 10 days was sufficient to renovate these alterations only in fish exposed to the same concentration.

Host diet drives gut microbiome convergence between coral reef fishes and mammals - Samuel Degregori; Nina M. D. Schiettekatte; Jordan M. Casey; Simon J. Brandl; Alexandre Mercière; Katherine R. Amato; Florent Mazel; Valeriano Parravicini; Paul H. Barber (Molecular Ecology, 2024)
Animal gut microbiomes are critical to host physiology and fitness. The gut microbiomes of fishes—the most abundant and diverse vertebrate clade—have received little attention relative to other clades. Coral reef fishes, in particular, make up a wide range of evolutionary histories and feeding ecologies that are likely associated with gut microbiome diversity. The repeated evolution of herbivory in fishes and mammals also allows us to examine microbiome similarity in relationship to diet across the entire vertebrate tree of life. Here, we generate a large coral reef fish gut microbiome dataset ( n = 499 samples, 19 species) and combine it with a diverse aggregation of public microbiome data ( n = 447) to show that host diet drives significant convergence between coral reef fish and mammalian gut microbiomes. We demonstrate that this similarity is largely driven by carnivory and herbivory and that herbivorous and carnivorous hosts exhibit distinct microbial compositions across fish and mammals. We also show that fish and mammal gut microbiomes share prominent microbial taxa, including Ruminoccocus spp. and Akkermansia spp., and predicted metabolic pathways. Despite the major evolutionary and ecological differences between fishes and mammals, our results reveal that their gut microbiomes undergo similar dietary selective pressures. Thus, diet, in addition to phylosymbiosis must be considered even when comparing the gut microbiomes of distantly related hosts.

Random and systematic uncertainty in ship‐based seawater carbonate chemistry observations - Brendan R. Carter; Jonathan D. Sharp; Maribel I. García‐Ibáñez; Ryan J. Woosley; Michael B. Fong; Marta Álvarez; Leticia Barbero; Simon L. Clegg; Regina Easley; Andrea J. Fassbender; Xinyu Li; Katelyn M. Schockman; et al. (Limnology and Oceanography, 2024)
Seawater carbonate chemistry observations are increasingly necessary to study a broad array of oceanographic challenges such as ocean acidification, carbon inventory tracking, and assessment of marine carbon dioxide removal strategies. The uncertainty in a seawater carbonate chemistry observation comes from unknown random variations and systematic offsets. Here, we estimate the magnitudes of these random and systematic components of uncertainty for the discrete open‐ocean carbonate chemistry measurements in the Global Ocean Data Analysis Project 2022 update (GLODAPv2.2022). We use both an uncertainty propagation approach and a carbonate chemistry measurement “inter‐consistency” approach that quantifies the disagreement between measured carbonate chemistry variables and calculations of the same variables from other carbonate chemistry measurements. Our inter‐consistency analysis reveals that the seawater carbonate chemistry measurement community has collected and released data with a random uncertainty that averages about 1.7 times the uncertainty estimated by propagating the desired “climate‐quality” random uncertainties. However, we obtain differing random uncertainty estimates for subsets of the available data, with some subsets seemingly meeting the climate‐quality criteria. We find that seawater pH measurements on the total scale do not meet the climate‐quality criteria, though the inter‐consistency of these measurements improves (by 38%) when limited to the subset of measurements made using purified indicator dyes. We show that GLODAPv2 adjustments improve inter‐consistency for some subsets of the measurements while worsening it for others. Finally, we provide general guidance for quantifying the random uncertainty that applies for common combinations of measured and calculated values.

Dominance and rarity in tree communities across the globe: Patterns, predictors and threats - Iris Hordijk; Lalasia Bialic‐Murphy; Thomas Lauber; Devin Routh; Lourens Poorter; Malin C. Rivers; Hans ter Steege; Jingjing Liang; Peter B. Reich; Sergio de‐Miguel; Gert‐Jan Nabuurs; Javier G. P. Gamarra; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2024)
Aim Ecological and anthropogenic factors shift the abundances of dominant and rare tree species within local forest communities, thus affecting species composition and ecosystem functioning. To inform forest and conservation management it is important to understand the drivers of dominance and rarity in local tree communities. We answer the following research questions: (1) What are the patterns of dominance and rarity in tree communities? (2) Which ecological and anthropogenic factors predict these patterns? And (3) what is the extinction risk of locally dominant and rare tree species? Location Global. Time period 1990–2017. Major taxa studied Trees. Methods We used 1.2 million forest plots and quantified local tree dominance as the relative plot basal area of the single most dominant species and local rarity as the percentage of species that contribute together to the least 10% of plot basal area. We mapped global community dominance and rarity using machine learning models and evaluated the ecological and anthropogenic predictors with linear models. Extinction risk, for example threatened status, of geographically widespread dominant and rare species was evaluated. Results Community dominance and rarity show contrasting latitudinal trends, with boreal forests having high levels of dominance and tropical forests having high levels of rarity. Increasing annual precipitation reduces community dominance, probably because precipitation is related to an increase in tree density and richness. Additionally, stand age is positively related to community dominance, due to stem diameter increase of the most dominant species. Surprisingly, we find that locally dominant and rare species, which are geographically widespread in our data, have an equally high rate of elevated extinction due to declining populations through large‐scale land degradation. Main conclusions By linking patterns and predictors of community dominance and rarity to extinction risk, our results suggest that also widespread species should be considered in large‐scale management and conservation practices.

Exposing illegal hunting and wildlife depletion in the world's largest tropical country through social media data - Hani R. El Bizri; Marcela A. Oliveira; Aline Pessutti Rampini; Simon Knoop; Julia E. Fa; Lauren Coad; Thais Queiroz Morcatty; Gabriel Favero Massocato; Arnaud L. J. Desbiez; João Vitor Campos‐Silva; Daniel Zani La Laina; José Maurício Barbanti Duarte; et al. (Conservation Biology, 2024)
Globally, illegal sport hunting can threaten prey populations when unregulated. Due to its covert nature, illegal sport hunting poses challenges for data collection, hindering efforts to understand the full extent of its impacts. We gathered social media data to analyze patterns of illegal sport hunting and wildlife depletion across Brazil. We collected data for 2 years (2018–2020) across 5 Facebook groups containing posts depicting pictures of illegal sport hunting events of native fauna. We described and mapped these hunting events by detailing the number of hunters involved, the number of species, the mean body mass of individuals, and the number and biomass of individuals hunted per unit area, stratified by Brazilian biome. We also examined the effects of defaunation on hunting yield and composition via regression models, rank–abundance curves, and spatial interpolation. We detected 2046 illegal sport hunting posts portraying the hunting of 4658 animals (∼29 t of undressed meat) across all 27 states and 6 natural biomes of Brazil. Of 157 native species targeted by hunters, 19 are currently threatened with extinction. We estimated that 1414 hunters extracted 3251 kg/million km 2 . Some areas exhibited more pronounced wildlife depletion, in particular the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes. In these areas, there was a shift from large mammals and reptiles to small birds as the main targeted taxa, and biomass extracted per hunting event and mean body mass across all taxonomic groups were lower than in other areas. Our results highlight that illegal sport hunting adds to the pressures of subsistence hunting and the wild meat trade on Brazil's wildlife populations. Enhanced surveillance efforts are needed to reduce illegal sport hunting levels and to develop well‐managed sustainable sport hunting programs. These can support wildlife conservation and offer incentives for local communities to oversee designated sport hunting areas.

Defining an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome: International Consensus Statement - Emma Short; Ian M. Adcock; Bilal Al-Sarireh; Ann Ager; Ramzi Ajjan; Naveed Akbar; Michael A. Akeroyd; Ghada Alsaleh; Ghada Al-Sharbatee; Kambiz Alavian; Winfried Amoaku; Julie Andersen; et al. (GeroScience, 2024)
Around the world, individuals are living longer, but an increased average lifespan does not always equate to an increased health span. With advancing age, the increased prevalence of ageing-related diseases can have a significant impact on health status, functional capacity and quality of life. It is therefore vital to develop comprehensive classification and staging systems for ageing-related pathologies, diseases and syndromes. This will allow societies to better identify, quantify, understand and meet the healthcare, workforce, well-being and socioeconomic needs of ageing populations, whilst supporting the development and utilisation of interventions to prevent or to slow, halt or reverse the progression of ageing-related pathologies. The foundation for developing such classification and staging systems is to define the scope of what constitutes an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome. To this end, a consensus meeting was hosted by the International Consortium to Classify Ageing-Related Pathologies (ICCARP), on February 19, 2024, in Cardiff, UK, and was attended by 150 recognised experts. Discussions and voting were centred on provisional criteria that had been distributed prior to the meeting. The participants debated and voted on these. Each criterion required a consensus agreement of ≥ 70% for approval. The accepted criteria for an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome were (1) develops and/or progresses with increasing chronological age; (2) should be associated with, or contribute to, functional decline or an increased susceptibility to functional decline and (3) evidenced by studies in humans. Criteria for an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome have been agreed by an international consortium of subject experts. These criteria will now be used by the ICCARP for the classification and ultimately staging of ageing-related pathologies, diseases and syndromes.

Marine connectivity conservation: Guidance for MPA and MPA network design and management - Jonathan P.A. Gardner; Barbara Lausche; Simon J. Pittman; Anna Metaxas (Marine Policy, 2024)

P19-28 Exposure data to cosmetic products of consumers presenting atopic dermatitis - M.P. Berrada Gomez; A. Bernard; P. Roch-Simon; H. Bondarenko; P.-J. Ferret (Toxicology Letters, 2024)

P13-23 A comparative analysis of the ability of various S9 compositions to metabolically activate N-nitrosamines to mutagens in the bacterial reverse mutation test - F. Bringezu; S. Simon; J. Dieckhoff (Toxicology Letters, 2024)