BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene - Maria Dornelas; Laura H. Antão; Faye Moyes; Amanda E. Bates; Anne E. Magurran; Dušan Adam; Asem A. Akhmetzhanova; Ward Appeltans; José Manuel Arcos; Haley Arnold; Narayanan Ayyappan; Gal Badihi; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2018)
Motivation The BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community‐led open‐source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Main types of variables included The database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology and contextual information about each record. Spatial location and grain BioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km 2 (158 cm 2 ) to 100 km 2 (1,000,000,000,000 cm 2 ). Time period and grain BioTIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimal temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is a year. Major taxa and level of measurement BioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates. Software format .csv and .SQL.

Front Cover - James A. Lutz; Tucker J. Furniss; Daniel J. Johnson; Stuart J. Davies; David Allen; Alfonso Alonso; Kristina J. Anderson‐Teixeira; Ana Andrade; Jennifer Baltzer; Kendall M. L. Becker; Erika M. Blomdahl; Norman A. Bourg; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2018)

Global importance of large‐diameter trees - James A. Lutz; Tucker J. Furniss; Daniel J. Johnson; Stuart J. Davies; David Allen; Alfonso Alonso; Kristina J. Anderson‐Teixeira; Ana Andrade; Jennifer Baltzer; Kendall M. L. Becker; Erika M. Blomdahl; Norman A. Bourg; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2018)
Aim To examine the contribution of large‐diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location Global. Time period Early 21st century. Major taxa studied Woody plants. Methods We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and biomass using a global network of 48 large (from 2 to 60 ha) forest plots representing 5,601,473 stems across 9,298 species and 210 plant families. This contribution was assessed using three metrics: the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), all trees ≥ 60 cm DBH, and those rank‐ordered largest trees that cumulatively comprise 50% of forest biomass. Results Averaged across these 48 forest plots, the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm DBH comprised 50% of aboveground live biomass, with hectare‐scale standard deviation of 26%. Trees ≥ 60 cm DBH comprised 41% of aboveground live tree biomass. The size of the largest trees correlated with total forest biomass ( r 2 = .62, p r 2 = .45, p r 2 = .33, p r 2 = .17, p = .002). The concentration of biomass in the largest 1% of trees declined with increasing absolute latitude ( r 2 = .46, p r 2 = .31, p r 2 = .26, p Main conclusions Because large‐diameter trees constitute roughly half of the mature forest biomass worldwide, their dynamics and sensitivities to environmental change represent potentially large controls on global forest carbon cycling. We recommend managing forests for conservation of existing large‐diameter trees or those that can soon reach large diameters as a simple way to conserve and potentially enhance ecosystem services.

Elevated CO 2 did not affect the hydrological balance of a mature native Eucalyptus woodland - Teresa E. Gimeno; Tim R. McVicar; Anthony P. O'Grady; David T. Tissue; David S. Ellsworth (Global Change Biology, 2018)
Elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentration (e C a ) might reduce forest water‐use, due to decreased transpiration, following partial stomatal closure, thus enhancing water‐use efficiency and productivity at low water availability. If evapotranspiration ( E t ) is reduced, it may subsequently increase soil water storage (Δ S ) or surface runoff ( R ) and drainage ( D g ), although these could be offset or even reversed by changes in vegetation structure, mainly increased leaf area index ( L ). To understand the effect of e C a in a water‐limited ecosystem, we tested whether 2 years of e C a (~40% increase) affected the hydrological partitioning in a mature water‐limited Eucalyptus woodland exposed to Free‐Air CO 2 Enrichment (FACE). This timeframe allowed us to evaluate whether physiological effects of e C a reduced stand water‐use irrespective of L , which was unaffected by e C a in this timeframe. We hypothesized that e C a would reduce tree‐canopy transpiration ( E tree ), but excess water from reduced E tree would be lost via increased soil evaporation and understory transpiration ( E floor ) with no increase in Δ S , R or D g . We computed E t , Δ S , R and D g from measurements of sapflow velocity, L , soil water content (θ), understory micrometeorology, throughfall and stemflow. We found that e C a did not affect E tree , E floor , Δ S or θ at any depth (to 4.5 m) over the experimental period. We closed the water balance for dry seasons with no differences in the partitioning to R and D g between C a levels. Soil temperature and θ were the main drivers of E floor while vapour pressure deficit‐controlled E tree , though e C a did not significantly affect any of these relationships. Our results suggest that in the short‐term, e C a does not significantly affect ecosystem water‐use at this site. We conclude that water‐savings under e C a mediated by either direct effects on plant transpiration or by indirect effects via changes in L or soil moisture availability are unlikely in water‐limited mature eucalypt woodlands.

Topography shapes the structure, composition and function of tropical forest landscapes - Tommaso Jucker; Boris Bongalov; David F. R. P. Burslem; Reuben Nilus; Michele Dalponte; Simon L. Lewis; Oliver L. Phillips; Lan Qie; David A. Coomes (Ecology Letters, 2018)
Topography is a key driver of tropical forest structure and composition, as it constrains local nutrient and hydraulic conditions within which trees grow. Yet, we do not fully understand how changes in forest physiognomy driven by topography impact other emergent properties of forests, such as their aboveground carbon density ( ACD ). Working in Borneo – at a site where 70‐m‐tall forests in alluvial valleys rapidly transition to stunted heath forests on nutrient‐depleted dip slopes – we combined field data with airborne laser scanning and hyperspectral imaging to characterise how topography shapes the vertical structure, wood density, diversity and ACD of nearly 15 km 2 of old‐growth forest. We found that subtle differences in elevation – which control soil chemistry and hydrology – profoundly influenced the structure, composition and diversity of the canopy. Capturing these processes was critical to explaining landscape‐scale heterogeneity in ACD , highlighting how emerging remote sensing technologies can provide new insights into long‐standing ecological questions.

Rethinking the Wildland Fire Management System - Matthew P Thompson; Donald G MacGregor; Christopher J Dunn; David E Calkin; John Phipps (Journal of Forestry, 2018)

Advancing Marine Biological Observations and Data Requirements of the Complementary Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) Frameworks - Frank E. Muller-Karger; Patricia Miloslavich; Nicholas J. Bax; Samantha Simmons; Mark J. Costello; Isabel Sousa Pinto; Gabrielle Canonico; Woody Turner; Michael Gill; Enrique Montes; Benjamin D. Best; Jay Pearlman; et al. (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2018)

Corrigendum: Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter in Pore Waters of Anoxic Marine Sediments Analyzed by 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - Christina A. Fox; Hussain A. Abdulla; David J. Burdige; James P. Lewicki; Tomoko Komada (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2018)

Land cover 2.0 - Michael A. Wulder; Nicholas C. Coops; David P. Roy; Joanne C. White; Txomin Hermosilla (International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2018)

Accommodating State Shifts within the Conceptual Framework of the Wetland Continuum - David M. Mushet; Owen P. McKenna; James W. LaBaugh; Ned H. Euliss; Donald O. Rosenberry (Wetlands, 2018)

Refining Protein Penetration into the Lipid Bilayer Using Fluorescence Quenching and Molecular Dynamics Simulations: The Case of Diphtheria Toxin Translocation Domain - Alexander Kyrychenko; Nathan M. Lim; Victor Vasquez-Montes; Mykola V. Rodnin; J. Alfredo Freites; Linh P. Nguyen; Douglas J. Tobias; David L. Mobley; Alexey S. Ladokhin (The Journal of Membrane Biology, 2018)

Modelling the distribution of hard seabed using calibrated multibeam acoustic backscatter data in a tropical, macrotidal embayment: Darwin Harbour, Australia - P. Justy W. Siwabessy; Maggie Tran; Kim Picard; Brendan P. Brooke; Zhi Huang; Neil Smit; David K. Williams; William A. Nicholas; Scott L. Nichol; Ian Atkinson (Marine Geophysical Research, 2018)

The putative leucine sensor Sestrin2 is hyperphosphorylated by acute resistance exercise but not protein ingestion in human skeletal muscle - Nina Zeng; Randall F. D’Souza; Brie Sorrenson; Troy L. Merry; Matthew P. G. Barnett; Cameron J. Mitchell; David Cameron-Smith (European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2018)

Safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of GSK3008348, a novel integrin αvβ6 inhibitor, in healthy participants - Charlotte H. Maden; David Fairman; Michelle Chalker; Maria J. Costa; William A. Fahy; Nadia Garman; Pauline T. Lukey; Tim Mant; Simon Parry; Juliet K. Simpson; Robert J. Slack; Stuart Kendrick; et al. (European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2018)

Flux model to estimate the transport of mercury species in a contaminated lagoon (Ria de Aveiro, Portugal) - Teodor Stoichev; Emmanuel Tessier; Cristina Marisa R. Almeida; Maria Clara P. Basto; Vitor M. Vasconcelos; David Amouroux (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2018)

Tropically driven and externally forced patterns of Antarctic sea ice change: reconciling observed and modeled trends - David P. Schneider; Clara Deser (Climate Dynamics, 2018)

Preliminary Studies of Acute Cadmium Administration Effects on the Calcium-Activated Potassium (SKCa and BKCa) Channels and Na+/K+-ATPase Activity in Isolated Aortic Rings of Rats - Dalton V. Vassallo; Camila C. P. Almenara; Gilson Brás Broseghini-Filho; Ariane Calazans Teixeira; David Chaves F. da Silva; Jhuli K. Angeli; Alessandra S. Padilha (Biological Trace Element Research, 2018)

Entomopathogen ID: a curated sequence resource for entomopathogenic fungi - Christopher A. Dunlap; José Luis Ramirez; Gabriel Moura Mascarin; David P. Labeda (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 2018)

Spatio-temporal Organization During Ventricular Fibrillation in the Human Heart - Jinny Robson; Parham Aram; Martyn P. Nash; Chris P. Bradley; Martin Hayward; David J. Paterson; Peter Taggart; Richard H. Clayton; Visakan Kadirkamanathan (Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 2018)

Drought timing and local climate determine the sensitivity of eastern temperate forests to drought - Loïc D'Orangeville; Justin Maxwell; Daniel Kneeshaw; Neil Pederson; Louis Duchesne; Travis Logan; Daniel Houle; Dominique Arseneault; Colin M. Beier; Daniel A. Bishop; Daniel Druckenbrod; Shawn Fraver; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2018)
Projected changes in temperature and drought regime are likely to reduce carbon (C) storage in forests, thereby amplifying rates of climate change. While such reductions are often presumed to be greatest in semi‐arid forests that experience widespread tree mortality, the consequences of drought may also be important in temperate mesic forests of Eastern North America ( ENA ) if tree growth is significantly curtailed by drought. Investigations of the environmental conditions that determine drought sensitivity are critically needed to accurately predict ecosystem feedbacks to climate change. We matched site factors with the growth responses to drought of 10,753 trees across mesic forests of ENA , representing 24 species and 346 stands, to determine the broad‐scale drivers of drought sensitivity for the dominant trees in ENA . Here we show that two factors—the timing of drought, and the atmospheric demand for water (i.e., local potential evapotranspiration; PET )—are stronger drivers of drought sensitivity than soil and stand characteristics. Drought‐induced reductions in tree growth were greatest when the droughts occurred during early‐season peaks in radial growth, especially for trees growing in the warmest, driest regions (i.e., highest PET ). Further, mean species trait values (rooting depth and ψ 50 ) were poor predictors of drought sensitivity, as intraspecific variation in sensitivity was equal to or greater than interspecific variation in 17 of 24 species. From a general circulation model ensemble, we find that future increases in early‐season PET may exacerbate these effects, and potentially offset gains in C uptake and storage in ENA owing to other global change factors.

Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter in Pore Waters of Anoxic Marine Sediments Analyzed by 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - Christina A. Fox; Hussain A. Abdulla; David J. Burdige; James P. Lewicki; Tomoko Komada (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2018)

An integrative assessment of the taxonomic status of putative hybrid leopard frogs (Anura: Ranidae) from the Chortís Highlands of Central America, with description of a new species - Ileana Luque-Montes; James D. Austin; Kayla D. Weinfurther; Larry David Wilson; Erich P. Hofmann; Josiah H. Townsend (Systematics and Biodiversity, 2018)

Recreation Equity: Is the Forest Service Serving Its Diverse Publics? - David Flores; Gennaro Falco; Nina S Roberts; Francisco P Valenzuela (Journal of Forestry, 2018)

Impacts of waterlogging on soil nitrification and ammonia-oxidizing communities in farming system - Linh T. T. Nguyen; Yui Osanai; Ian C. Anderson; Michael P. Bange; Michael Braunack; David T. Tissue; Brajesh K. Singh (Plant and Soil, 2018)

Shifting stream planform state decreases stream productivity yet increases riparian animal production - Michael P. Venarsky; David M. Walters; Robert O. Hall; Bridget Livers; Ellen Wohl (Oecologia, 2018)

Water guns affect abundance and behavior of bigheaded carp and native fish differently - José M. Rivera; David C. Glover; Patrick M. Kocovsky; James E. Garvey; Mark P. Gaikowski; Nathan R. Jensen; Ryan F. Adams (Biological Invasions, 2018)

Biogeographic patterns of communities across diverse marine ecosystems in southern California - Jeremy T. Claisse; Carol A. Blanchette; Jenifer E. Dugan; Jonathan P. Williams; Jan Freiwald; Daniel J. Pondella; Nicholas K. Schooler; David M. Hubbard; Kathryn Davis; Laurel A. Zahn; Chelsea M. Williams; Jennifer E. Caselle (Marine Ecology, 2018)
Integrating results from monitoring efforts conducted across diverse marine ecosystems provides opportunities to reveal novel biogeographic patterns at larger spatial scales and among multiple taxonomic groups. We investigated large‐scale patterns of community similarity across major taxonomic groups (invertebrates, fishes or algae) from a range of marine ecosystems (rocky intertidal, sandy intertidal, kelp forest, shallow and deep soft‐bottom subtidal) in southern California. Because monitoring sites and methods varied among programs, site data were averaged over larger geographic regions to facilitate comparisons. For the majority of individual community types, locations that were geographically near or environmentally similar to one another tended to have more similar communities. However, our analysis found that this pattern of within community type similarity did not result in all pairs of these community types exhibiting high levels of cross‐community congruence. Rocky intertidal algae communities had high levels of congruence with the spatial patterns observed for almost all of the other (fish or invertebrate) community types. This was not surprising given algal distributions are known to be highly influenced by bottom‐up factors and they are important as food and habitat for marine fishes and invertebrates. However, relatively few pairwise comparisons of the spatial patterns between a fish community and an invertebrate community yielded significant correlations. These community types are generally comprised of assemblages of higher trophic level species, and additional ecological and anthropogenic factors may have altered their spatial patterns of community similarity. In most cases pairs of invertebrate community types and pairs of fish community types exhibited similar spatial patterns, although there were some notable exceptions. These findings have important implications for the design and interpretation of results of long‐term monitoring programs.

Beyond trees: Biogeographical regionalization of tropical Africa - Vincent Droissart; Gilles Dauby; Olivier J. Hardy; Vincent Deblauwe; David J. Harris; Steven Janssens; Barbara A. Mackinder; Anne Blach‐Overgaard; Bonaventure Sonké; Marc S. M. Sosef; Tariq Stévart; Jens‐Christian Svenning; et al. (Journal of Biogeography, 2018)
Aim To delineate bioregions in tropical Africa and determine whether different plant growth forms (trees, terrestrial herbs, lianas and shrubs) display the same pattern of regionalization, diversity and endemism as the whole flora. Location Tropical Africa (excl. Madagascar), from 20° N to 25° S. Taxon Vascular plants. Methods Analyses were based on occurrences of 24,719 vascular plant species distributed across tropical Africa extracted from the RAINBIO database. The majority of species (93%) were classified into four growth forms: terrestrial herbs, trees, shrubs and lianas. Biogeographical regions (bioregions) were delimited using a bipartite network clustering approach on the whole dataset and then separately for each growth form. Relationships among bioregions were investigated using non‐metric multidimensional scaling ordination, flora nestedness and endemism patterns. Results Analyses of the whole dataset identified 16 bioregions and 11 transition zones. These were congruent with most of the currently recognized phytogeographical classifications, and also highlighted previously under‐recognized bioregions. Bioregion endemism rates were lower and species richness higher when compared to estimates from the White/ Association pour l'Etude Taxonomique de la Flore d'Afrique Tropicale (AETFAT) classification. Analysed separately, plant growth forms showed contrasting geographical patterns. Bioregionalization was better resolved for closed forest types using trees and lianas and for open vegetation types using terrestrial herbs, while shrubs showed good discriminative power in all vegetation types. Main conclusions We show that distribution patterns based on solely trees are not sufficient to define floristic bioregions in tropical Africa. Analyses of spatial patterns using different growth forms are complementary, likely reflecting different evolutionary processes and ecological relationships. The contribution of growth forms to delimit geographical floristic patterns across tropical Africa is of critical importance for land use planning and management, and for selecting priority conservation areas.

Geographical ecology of dry forest tree communities in the West Indies - Janet Franklin; Riley Andrade; Mark L. Daniels; Patrick Fairbairn; Maria C. Fandino; Thomas W. Gillespie; Grizelle González; Otto Gonzalez; Daniel Imbert; Valerie Kapos; Daniel L. Kelly; Humfredo Marcano‐Vega; et al. (Journal of Biogeography, 2018)
Aim Seasonally dry tropical forest ( SDTF ) of the Caribbean Islands (primarily West Indies) is floristically distinct from Neotropical SDTF in Central and South America. We evaluate whether tree species composition was associated with climatic gradients or geographical distance. Turnover (dissimilarity) in species composition of different islands or among more distant sites would suggest communities structured by speciation and dispersal limitations. A nested pattern would be consistent with a steep resource gradient. Correlation of species composition with climatic variation would suggest communities structured by broad‐scale environmental filtering. Location The West Indies (The Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia), Providencia (Colombia), south Florida ( USA ) and Florida Keys ( USA ). Taxon Seed plants—woody taxa (primarily trees). Methods We compiled 572 plots from 23 surveys conducted between 1969 and 2016. Hierarchical clustering of species in plots, and indicator species analysis for the resulting groups of sites, identified geographical patterns of turnover in species composition. Nonparametric analysis of variance, applied to principal components of bioclimatic variables, determined the degree of covariation in climate with location. Nestedness versus turnover in species composition was evaluated using beta diversity partitioning. Generalized dissimilarity modelling partitioned the effect of climate versus geographical distance on species composition. Results Despite a set of commonly occurring species, SDTF tree community composition was distinct among islands and was characterized by spatial turnover on climatic gradients that covaried with geographical gradients. Greater Antillean islands were characterized by endemic indicator species. Northern subtropical areas supported distinct, rather than nested, SDTF communities in spite of low levels of endemism. Main conclusions The SDTF species composition was correlated with climatic variation. SDTF on large Greater Antillean islands (Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba) was characterized by endemic species, consistent with their geological history and the biogeography of plant lineages. These results suggest that both environmental filtering and speciation shape Caribbean SDTF tree communities.

Partitioning of soil phosphorus among arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal trees in tropical and subtropical forests - Xubing Liu; David F. R. P. Burslem; Joe D. Taylor; Andy F. S. Taylor; Eyen Khoo; Noreen Majalap‐Lee; Thorunn Helgason; David Johnson (Ecology Letters, 2018)
Partitioning of soil phosphorus (P) pools has been proposed as a key mechanism maintaining plant diversity, but experimental support is lacking. Here, we provided different chemical forms of P to 15 tree species with contrasting root symbiotic relationships to investigate plant P acquisition in both tropical and subtropical forests. Both ectomycorrhizal ( ECM ) and arbuscular mycorrhizal ( AM ) trees responded positively to addition of inorganic P, but strikingly, ECM trees acquired more P from a complex organic form (phytic acid). Most ECM tree species and all AM tree species also showed some capacity to take up simple organic P (monophosphate). Mycorrhizal colonisation was negatively correlated with soil extractable P concentration, suggesting that mycorrhizal fungi may regulate organic P acquisition among tree species. Our results support the hypothesis that ECM and AM plants partition soil P sources, which may play an ecologically important role in promoting species coexistence in tropical and subtropical forests.

High-definition infrared thermography of ice nucleation and propagation in wheat under natural frost conditions and controlled freezing - David P. Livingston; Tan D. Tuong; J. Paul Murphy; Lawrence V. Gusta; Ian Willick; Micheal E. Wisniewski (Planta, 2018)

BacHBerry: BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits - Alexey Dudnik; A. Filipa Almeida; Ricardo Andrade; Barbara Avila; Pilar Bañados; Diane Barbay; Jean-Etienne Bassard; Mounir Benkoulouche; Michael Bott; Adelaide Braga; Dario Breitel; Rex Brennan; et al. (Phytochemistry Reviews, 2018)

New saliva secretion model based on the expression of Na+-K+ pump and K+ channels in the apical membrane of parotid acinar cells - János Almássy; Elias Siguenza; Marianna Skaliczki; Klara Matesz; James Sneyd; David I. Yule; Péter P. Nánási (Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, 2018)

Retracing the history and planning the future of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in Ireland using non-invasive genetics - Denise B. O’Meara; Allan D. McDevitt; David O’Neill; Andrew P. Harrington; Peter Turner; William Carr; Michael Desmond; Colin Lawton; Ferdia Marnell; Sarah Rubalcava; Emma Sheehy; David P. Sleeman; et al. (Mammal Research, 2018)

Application of Chloroplast Phylogenomics to Resolve Species Relationships Within the Plant Genus Amaranthus - Erika Viljoen; Damaris A. Odeny; Martin P. A. Coetzee; Dave K. Berger; David J. G. Rees (Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2018)

The phase diagrams of KCaF3 and NaMgF3 by ab initio simulations - Clément Jakymiw; Lidunka Vočadlo; David P. Dobson; Edward Bailey; Andrew R. Thomson; John P. Brodholt; Ian G. Wood; Alex Lindsay-Scott (Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, 2018)

On publishing in Mycorrhiza - Jan V. Colpaert; David P. Janos (Mycorrhiza, 2018)

Burying beetles regulate the microbiome of carcasses and use it to transmit a core microbiota to their offspring - Shantanu P. Shukla; Heiko Vogel; David G. Heckel; Andreas Vilcinskas; Martin Kaltenpoth (Molecular Ecology, 2018)
Necrophagous beetles utilize carrion, a highly nutritious resource that is susceptible to intense microbial competition, by treating it with antimicrobial anal and oral secretions. However, how this regulates the carcass microbiota remains unclear. Here, we show that carcasses prepared by the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides undergo significant changes in their microbial communities subsequent to their burial and “preparation.” Prepared carcasses hosted a microbial community that was more similar to that of beetles’ anal and oral secretions than to the native carcass community or the surrounding soil, indicating that the beetles regulated the carcass microbiota. A core microbial community (Xanthomonadaceae, Enterococcaceae, Enterobacteriaceae and Yarrowia yeasts) was transmitted by the beetles to the larvae via the anal and oral secretions and the carcass surface. These core taxa proliferated on the carcass, indicating a growth conducive environment for these microbes when associated with beetles. However, total bacterial loads were higher on decomposing carcasses without beetles than on beetle‐prepared carcasses, indicating that the beetles and/or their associated symbionts suppress the growth of competing microbes. Thus, apart from being a nutritional resource, the carcass provides a medium for vertical transmission of a tightly regulated symbiotic microbiota, whose activity on the carcass and in the larval gut may involve carcass preservation as well as digestion.

Tree cover shows strong sensitivity to precipitation variability across the global tropics - Xiangtao Xu; David Medvigy; Anna T. Trugman; Kaiyu Guan; Stephen P. Good; Ignacio Rodriguez‐Iturbe (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2018)
Aim Vegetation is sensitive to mean annual precipitation (MAP), but the sensitivity of vegetation to precipitation variability (PV) is less clear. Tropical ecosystems are likely to experience increased PV in the future. Here we assessed the importance, magnitude and mechanism of PV effects on tree cover in the context of covarying environmental drivers such as fire, temperature and soil properties. Location Tropical land. Time period 2000–2010. Major taxa studied Trees. Methods We compiled climate, soil and remotely‐sensed tree cover data over tropical land. We then comprehensively assessed the contribution of PV at different time‐scales to tropical tree cover variations and estimated the sensitivity of tree cover to PV changes by conducting rolling‐window regression and variance decomposition analyses. We further adopted a mechanistic modelling approach to test whether water competition between trees and grasses can explain the observed effect of PV. Results We find that PV contributes 33–56% to the total explained spatial variation (65–79%) in tree cover. The contribution of PV depends on MAP and is highest under intermediate MAP (500–1,500 mm). Tree cover generally increases with rainy day frequency and wet season length but shows mixed responses to inter‐annual PV. Based on the estimated sensitivity, tropical tree cover can decrease by 3–5% overall and by up to 20% in Amazonia under a 20% decrease in rainy days. Mechanistic modelling analysis reproduced the continental differences in tree cover along an MAP gradient. Main conclusions Under intermediate rainfall regimes (500–1,500 mm), PV can be a more important determinant of tropical tree cover than conventionally proposed drivers such as MAP and fire. The effect of PV likely results from the sensitivity of tree–grass competition to the temporal distribution of water resources. These results show that climate variability can strongly shape the biosphere.

Erratum to: The Development of Translational Biomarkers as a Tool for Improving the Understanding, Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic Pain - David A. Buckley; Elaine M. Jennings; Nikita N. Burke; Michelle Roche; Veronica McInerney; Jonathan D. Wren; David P. Finn; Patrick C. McHugh (Molecular Neurobiology, 2018)

The Development of Translational Biomarkers as a Tool for Improving the Understanding, Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic Pain - David A. Buckley; Elaine M. Jennings; Nikita N. Burke; Michelle Roche; Veronica McInerney; Jonathan D. Wren; David P. Finn; Patrick C. McHugh (Molecular Neurobiology, 2018)

Multi-link laser interferometry architecture for interspacecraft displacement metrology - Samuel P. Francis; Timothy T.-Y. Lam; David E. McClelland; Daniel A. Shaddock (Journal of Geodesy, 2018)

Strong homing does not predict high site fidelity in juvenile reef fishes - Robert P. Streit; David R. Bellwood (Coral Reefs, 2018)

Functional Land Management: Bridging the Think-Do-Gap using a multi-stakeholder science policy interface - Lilian O’Sullivan; David Wall; Rachel Creamer; Francesca Bampa; Rogier P. O. Schulte (Ambio, 2018)

Daily land use regression estimated woodsmoke and traffic pollution concentrations and the triggering of ST-elevation myocardial infarction: a case-crossover study - David Q. Rich; Mark J. Utell; Daniel P. Croft; Sally W. Thurston; Kelly Thevenet-Morrison; Kristin A. Evans; Frederick S. Ling; Yilin Tian; Philip K. Hopke (Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health, 2018)

Rotenone treatment has a short‐term effect on New Zealand stream macroinvertebrate communities - Lan Pham; Matt G. Jarvis; David West; Gerard P. Closs (New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2018)
Invasive fish eradication is a key management strategy in aquatic ecosystems, and is often accomplished using piscicides such as rotenone. However, the effects of piscicides on aquatic invertebrate communities are poorly understood, particularly over long time scales. We monitored invertebrate communities in two treatment and two reference streams prior to and for one year following the use of rotenone to eradicate trout in Zealandia wildlife sanctuary, Wellington. Immediately following treatment, invertebrate density and taxonomic richness declined significantly, and community composition diverged markedly relative to reference streams, with pollution sensitive taxa declining greater than more tolerant taxa. Treatment streams recovered to pre‐treatment conditions within 4–12 months of rotenone application, indicating minor long‐term impacts on invertebrate communities. Speed of recovery of individual taxa appeared to be associated with life history variables, e.g. generation times and dispersal ability. Untreated upstream reaches and nearby water bodies likely facilitated successful invertebrate community recovery. Our results demonstrate that rapid recovery of New Zealand stream invertebrate communities is possible within one year of rotenone application.

Tropical forests are thermally buffered despite intensive selective logging - Rebecca A. Senior; Jane K. Hill; Suzan Benedick; David P. Edwards (Global Change Biology, 2018)
Tropical rainforests are subject to extensive degradation by commercial selective logging. Despite pervasive changes to forest structure, selectively logged forests represent vital refugia for global biodiversity. The ability of these forests to buffer temperature‐sensitive species from climate warming will be an important determinant of their future conservation value, although this topic remains largely unexplored. Thermal buffering potential is broadly determined by: (i) the difference between the “macroclimate” (climate at a local scale, m to ha) and the “microclimate” (climate at a fine‐scale, mm to m, that is distinct from the macroclimate); (ii) thermal stability of microclimates (e.g. variation in daily temperatures); and (iii) the availability of microclimates to organisms. We compared these metrics in undisturbed primary forest and intensively logged forest on Borneo, using thermal images to capture cool microclimates on the surface of the forest floor, and information from dataloggers placed inside deadwood, tree holes and leaf litter. Although major differences in forest structure remained 9–12 years after repeated selective logging, we found that logging activity had very little effect on thermal buffering, in terms of macroclimate and microclimate temperatures, and the overall availability of microclimates. For 1°C warming in the macroclimate, temperature inside deadwood, tree holes and leaf litter warmed slightly more in primary forest than in logged forest, but the effect amounted to

Projecting the future of an alpine ungulate under climate change scenarios - Kevin S. White; David P. Gregovich; Taal Levi (Global Change Biology, 2018)
Climate change represents a primary threat to species persistence and biodiversity at a global scale. Cold adapted alpine species are especially sensitive to climate change and can offer key “early warning signs” about deleterious effects of predicted change. Among mountain ungulates, survival, a key determinant of demographic performance, may be influenced by future climate in complex, and possibly opposing ways. Demographic data collected from 447 mountain goats in 10 coastal Alaska, USA , populations over a 37‐year time span indicated that survival is highest during low snowfall winters and cool summers. However, general circulation models ( GCM s) predict future increase in summer temperature and decline in winter snowfall. To disentangle how these opposing climate‐driven effects influence mountain goat populations, we developed an age‐structured population model to project mountain goat population trajectories for 10 different GCM /emissions scenarios relevant for coastal Alaska. Projected increases in summer temperature had stronger negative effects on population trajectories than the positive demographic effects of reduced winter snowfall. In 5 of the 10 GCM /representative concentration pathway ( RCP ) scenarios, the net effect of projected climate change was extinction over a 70‐year time window (2015–2085); smaller initial populations were more likely to go extinct faster than larger populations. Using a resource selection modeling approach, we determined that distributional shifts to higher elevation (i.e., “thermoneutral”) summer range was unlikely to be a viable behavioral adaptation strategy; due to the conical shape of mountains, summer range was expected to decline by 17%–86% for 7 of the 10 GCM / RCP scenarios. Projected declines of mountain goat populations are driven by climate‐linked bottom‐up mechanisms and may have wide ranging implications for alpine ecosystems. These analyses elucidate how projected climate change can negatively alter population dynamics of a sentinel alpine species and provide insight into how demographic modeling can be used to assess risk to species persistence.

The extent and predictability of the biodiversity–carbon correlation - Moreno Di Marco; James E. M. Watson; David J. Currie; Hugh P. Possingham; Oscar Venter (Ecology Letters, 2018)
Protecting biomass carbon stocks to mitigate climate change has direct implications for biodiversity conservation. Yet, evidence that a positive association exists between carbon density and species richness is contrasting. Here, we test how this association varies (1) across spatial extents and (2) as a function of how strongly carbon and species richness depend on environmental variables. We found the correlation weakens when moving from larger extents, e.g. realms, to narrower extents, e.g. ecoregions. For ecoregions, a positive correlation emerges when both species richness and carbon density vary as functions of the same environmental variables (climate, soil, elevation). In 20% of tropical ecoregions, there are opportunities to pursue carbon conservation with direct biodiversity co‐benefits, while other ecoregions require careful planning for both species and carbon to avoid potentially perverse outcomes. The broad assumption of a linear relationship between carbon and biodiversity can lead to undesired outcomes.

Size, growth, and density data for shallow‐water sea urchins from Mexico to the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 1956–2016 - Thomas A. Ebert; Louis M. Barr; James L. Bodkin; Dirk Burcham; Dominique Bureau; Henry S. Carson; Nancy L. Caruso; Jennifer E. Caselle; Jeremy T. Claisse; Sabrina Clemente; Kathryn Davis; Paul M. Detwiler; et al. (Ecology, 2018)
Size, growth, and density have been studied for North American Pacific coast sea urchins Strongylocentrotus purpuratus , S. droebachiensis, S. polyacanthus , Mesocentrotus (Strongylocentrotus) franciscanus , Lytechinus pictus , Centrostephanus coronatus , and Arbacia stellata by various workers at diverse sites and for varying lengths of time from 1956 to present. Numerous peer‐reviewed publications have used some of these data but some data have appeared only in graduate theses or the gray literature. There also are data that have never appeared outside original data sheets. Motivation for studies has included fisheries management and environmental monitoring of sewer and power plant outfalls as well as changes associated with disease epidemics. Studies also have focused on kelp restoration, community effects of sea otters, basic sea urchin biology, and monitoring. The data sets presented here are a historical record of size, density, and growth for a common group of marine invertebrates in intertidal and nearshore environments that can be used to test hypotheses concerning future changes associated with fisheries practices, shifts of predator distributions, climate and ecosystem changes, and ocean acidification along the Pacific Coast of North America and islands of the north Pacific. No copyright restrictions apply. Please credit this paper when using the data.

Constructed treatment wetlands provide habitat for zooplankton communities in agricultural peat lake catchments - Rebecca S. Eivers; Ian C. Duggan; David P. Hamilton; John M. Quinn (Wetlands, 2018)

Relative influences of multiple sources of uncertainty on cumulative and incremental tree-ring-derived aboveground biomass estimates - M. Ross Alexander; Christine R. Rollinson; Flurin Babst; Valerie Trouet; David J. P. Moore (Trees, 2018)

Phenotypic plasticity and climate change: can polar bears respond to longer Arctic summers with an adaptive fast? - John P. Whiteman; Henry J. Harlow; George M. Durner; Eric V. Regehr; Steven C. Amstrup; Merav Ben-David (Oecologia, 2018)

TGFβ counteracts LYVE-1-mediated induction of lymphangiogenesis by small hyaluronan oligosaccharides - Jochen Bauer; Melanie Rothley; Anja Schmaus; Luca Quagliata; Markus Ehret; Moritz Biskup; Véronique Orian-Rousseau; David G. Jackson; Ronald J. Pettis; Alfred Harvey; Stefan Bräse; Wilko Thiele; et al. (Journal of Molecular Medicine, 2018)

Preferences for the Provision of Smoking Cessation Education Among Cancer Patients - Lorna Sampson; Janet Papadakos; Victoria Milne; Lisa W. Le; Geoffrey Liu; Nazek Abdelmutti; Robin Milne; David P. Goldstein; Lawson Eng; Meredith Giuliani (Journal of Cancer Education, 2018)

Combining otolith chemistry and telemetry to assess diadromous migration in pinkeye mullet, Trachystoma petardi (Actinopterygii, Mugiliformes) - Nathan G. Miles; Gavin L. Butler; Sandra L. Diamond; David P. Bishop; Dylan E. van der Meulen; Ivars Reinfelds; Chris T. Walsh (Hydrobiologia, 2018)

Decadal prediction of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre in the HiGEM high-resolution climate model - Jon Robson; Irene Polo; Dan L. R. Hodson; David P. Stevens; Len C. Shaffrey (Climate Dynamics, 2018)

Invasion by Rhododendron ponticum depletes the native seed bank with long-term impacts after its removal - Janet E. Maclean; Ruth J. Mitchell; David F. R. P. Burslem; David Genney; Jeanette Hall; Robin J. Pakeman (Biological Invasions, 2018)

Microscopy-based high-throughput assays enable multi-parametric analysis to assess adverse effects of nanomaterials in various cell lines - Iris Hansjosten; Juliane Rapp; Luisa Reiner; Ruben Vatter; Susanne Fritsch-Decker; Ravindra Peravali; Taina Palosaari; Elisabeth Joossens; Kirsten Gerloff; Peter Macko; Maurice Whelan; Douglas Gilliland; et al. (Archives of Toxicology, 2018)

Arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 in situ N-acetylation on CD3+ peripheral blood mononuclear cells correlate with NATb mRNA and NAT1 haplotype - Raúl A. Salazar-González; Eneida Turiján-Espinoza; David W. Hein; Perla C. Niño-Moreno; Silvia Romano-Moreno; Rosa C. Milán-Segovia; Diana P. Portales-Pérez (Archives of Toxicology, 2018)

Contact networks structured by sex underpin sex‐specific epidemiology of infection - Matthew J. Silk; Nicola L. Weber; Lucy C. Steward; David J. Hodgson; Mike Boots; Darren P. Croft; Richard J. Delahay; Robbie A. McDonald (Ecology Letters, 2018)
Contact networks are fundamental to the transmission of infection and host sex often affects the acquisition and progression of infection. However, the epidemiological impacts of sex‐related variation in animal contact networks have rarely been investigated. We test the hypothesis that sex‐biases in infection are related to variation in multilayer contact networks structured by sex in a population of European badgers Meles meles naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis . Our key results are that male‐male and between‐sex networks are structured at broader spatial scales than female‐female networks and that in male‐male and between‐sex contact networks, but not female‐female networks, there is a significant relationship between infection and contacts with individuals in other groups. These sex differences in social behaviour may underpin male‐biased acquisition of infection and may result in males being responsible for more between‐group transmission. This highlights the importance of sex‐related variation in host behaviour when managing animal diseases.

Discovery of a seventh Rpp soybean rust resistance locus in soybean accession PI 605823 - Silas P. Childs; Zachary R. King; David R. Walker; Donna K. Harris; Kerry F. Pedley; James W. Buck; H. Roger Boerma; Zenglu Li (Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2018)

Mating patterns of the gum arabic tree (Acacia senegal synonym Senegalia senegal) in two different habitats - Stephen F. Omondi; David W. Odee; George O. Ongamo; James I. Kanya; Damase P. Khasa (New Forests, 2018)

CHIPS: an Extensible Toolbox for Cellular and Hemodynamic Two-Photon Image Analysis - Matthew J. P. Barrett; Kim David Ferrari; Jillian L. Stobart; Martin Holub; Bruno Weber (Neuroinformatics, 2018)

Sensor manufacturer, temperature, and cyanobacteria morphology affect phycocyanin fluorescence measurements - Caroline M. Hodges; Susanna A. Wood; Jonathan Puddick; Christopher G. McBride; David P. Hamilton (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2018)

Unique challenges and opportunities for northeastern US crop production in a changing climate - David W. Wolfe; Arthur T. DeGaetano; Gregory M. Peck; Mary Carey; Lewis H. Ziska; John Lea-Cox; Armen R. Kemanian; Michael P. Hoffmann; David Y. Hollinger (Climatic Change, 2018)

Vulnerability of Southern Plains agriculture to climate change - Jean L. Steiner; David D. Briske; David P. Brown; Caitlin M. Rottler (Climatic Change, 2018)

Arbuscular common mycorrhizal networks mediate intra- and interspecific interactions of two prairie grasses - Joanna Weremijewicz; Leonel da Silveira Lobo O’Reilly Sternberg; David P. Janos (Mycorrhiza, 2018)

Temperature adaptation of lipids in diapausing Ostrinia nubilalis: an experimental study to distinguish environmental versus endogenous controls - Elvira L. Vukašinović; David W. Pond; Gordana Grubor-Lajšić; M. Roger Worland; Danijela Kojić; Jelena Purać; Željko D. Popović; Duško P. Blagojević (Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 2018)

Assessing the efficacy of aerial culling of introduced wild deer in New Zealand with analytical decomposition of predation risk - A. David M. Latham; M. Cecilia Latham; Dan Herries; Mandy Barron; Jenyffer Cruz; Dean P. Anderson (Biological Invasions, 2018)

Experimental nitrogen and phosphorus additions increase rates of stream ecosystem respiration and carbon loss - John S. Kominoski; Amy D. Rosemond; Jonathan P. Benstead; Vlad Gulis; David W. P. Manning (Limnology and Oceanography, 2018)
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) enrichment reduces organic carbon (C) storage in detritus‐based stream ecosystems, but the relative effects of N and P concentrations and ratios on stream metabolic rates have not previously been tested. We tracked changes in whole‐stream ecosystem respiration (ER) and gross primary productivity (GPP), particulate organic matter (POM) standing stocks, fungal biomass, and POM‐specific respiration rates before and during 2 yr of experimental N and P enrichment in five forest streams. Nutrient additions (∼ 96 μg N L −1 to ∼ 472 μg N L −1 and ∼ 10 μg P L −1 to ∼ 85 μg P L −1 ) targeted dissolved N : P molar ratios of 2, 8, 16, 32, and 128. Whole‐stream ER was positively related to standing stock of wood, a seasonably stable POM compartment that varied by up to 2× among streams. Nutrient enrichment generally increased ER but had no effect on low‐level GPP. Prior to nutrient enrichment, ER was higher at lower N : P, but during enrichment ER increased with increasing N : P. Respiration rates on leaf litter and wood increased with enrichment but decreased with increasing P, and the quantity of leaf litter generally declined with increasing N. Respiration rates on fine benthic organic matter (FBOM) were higher with increasing N : P, and FBOM standing stocks decreased with increasing N. Fungal biomass did not change with nutrient enrichment. Compared to pre‐enrichment conditions, nutrients increased seasonal variation in leaf litter standing stocks and whole‐stream respiration rates. Our results demonstrate how nutrient‐stimulated loss of C from detritus‐based ecosystems occurs through the maintenance of enhanced respiration rates on detrital resources that are particularly sensitive to N inputs.

Vegetation demographics in Earth System Models: A review of progress and priorities - Rosie A. Fisher; Charles D. Koven; William R. L. Anderegg; Bradley O. Christoffersen; Michael C. Dietze; Caroline E. Farrior; Jennifer A. Holm; George C. Hurtt; Ryan G. Knox; Peter J. Lawrence; Jeremy W. Lichstein; Marcos Longo; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2018)
Numerous current efforts seek to improve the representation of ecosystem ecology and vegetation demographic processes within Earth System Models ( ESM s). These developments are widely viewed as an important step in developing greater realism in predictions of future ecosystem states and fluxes. Increased realism, however, leads to increased model complexity, with new features raising a suite of ecological questions that require empirical constraints. Here, we review the developments that permit the representation of plant demographics in ESM s, and identify issues raised by these developments that highlight important gaps in ecological understanding. These issues inevitably translate into uncertainty in model projections but also allow models to be applied to new processes and questions concerning the dynamics of real‐world ecosystems. We argue that stronger and more innovative connections to data, across the range of scales considered, are required to address these gaps in understanding. The development of first‐generation land surface models as a unifying framework for ecophysiological understanding stimulated much research into plant physiological traits and gas exchange. Constraining predictions at ecologically relevant spatial and temporal scales will require a similar investment of effort and intensified inter‐disciplinary communication.

Extreme weather‐year sequences have nonadditive effects on environmental nitrogen losses - Javed Iqbal; Magdalena Necpalova; Sotirios V. Archontoulis; Robert P. Anex; Marie Bourguignon; Daryl Herzmann; David C. Mitchell; John E. Sawyer; Qing Zhu; Michael J. Castellano (Global Change Biology, 2018)
The frequency and intensity of extreme weather years, characterized by abnormal precipitation and temperature, are increasing. In isolation, these years have disproportionately large effects on environmental N losses. However, the sequence of extreme weather years (e.g., wet–dry vs. dry–wet) may affect cumulative N losses. We calibrated and validated the DAYCENT ecosystem process model with a comprehensive set of biogeophysical measurements from a corn–soybean rotation managed at three N fertilizer inputs with and without a winter cover crop in Iowa, USA . Our objectives were to determine: (i) how 2‐year sequences of extreme weather affect 2‐year cumulative N losses across the crop rotation, and (ii) if N fertilizer management and the inclusion of a winter cover crop between corn and soybean mitigate the effect of extreme weather on N losses. Using historical weather (1951–2013), we created nine 2‐year scenarios with all possible combinations of the driest (“dry”), wettest (“wet”), and average (“normal”) weather years. We analyzed the effects of these scenarios following several consecutive years of relatively normal weather. Compared with the normal–normal 2‐year weather scenario, 2‐year extreme weather scenarios affected 2‐year cumulative NO 3 − leaching (range: −93 to +290%) more than N 2 O emissions (range: −49 to +18%). The 2‐year weather scenarios had nonadditive effects on N losses: compared with the normal–normal scenario, the dry–wet sequence decreased 2‐year cumulative N 2 O emissions while the wet–dry sequence increased 2‐year cumulative N 2 O emissions. Although dry weather decreased NO 3 − leaching and N 2 O emissions in isolation, 2‐year cumulative N losses from the wet–dry scenario were greater than the dry–wet scenario. Cover crops reduced the effects of extreme weather on NO 3 − leaching but had a lesser effect on N 2 O emissions. As the frequency of extreme weather is expected to increase, these data suggest that the sequence of interannual weather patterns can be used to develop short‐term mitigation strategies that manipulate N fertilizer and crop rotation to maximize crop N uptake while reducing environmental N losses.

Nutrients and temperature additively increase stream microbial respiration - David W. P. Manning; Amy D. Rosemond; Vladislav Gulis; Jonathan P. Benstead; John S. Kominoski (Global Change Biology, 2018)
Rising temperatures and nutrient enrichment are co‐occurring global‐change drivers that stimulate microbial respiration of detrital carbon, but nutrient effects on the temperature dependence of respiration in aquatic ecosystems remain uncertain. We measured respiration rates associated with leaf litter, wood, and fine benthic organic matter (FBOM) across seasonal temperature gradients before (PRE) and after (ENR1, ENR2) experimental nutrient (nitrogen [N] and phosphorus [P]) additions to five forest streams. Nitrogen and phosphorus were added at different N:P ratios using increasing concentrations of N (~80–650 μg/L) and corresponding decreasing concentrations of P (~90–11 μg/L). We assessed the temperature dependence, and microbial (i.e., fungal) drivers of detrital mass‐specific respiration rates using the metabolic theory of ecology, before vs. after nutrient enrichment, and across N and P concentrations. Detrital mass‐specific respiration rates increased with temperature, exhibiting comparable activation energies ( E , electronvolts [eV]) for all substrates (FBOM E = 0.43 [95% CI = 0.18–0.69] eV, leaf litter E = 0.30 [95% CI = 0.072–0.54] eV, wood E = 0.41 [95% CI = 0.18–0.64] eV) close to predicted MTE values. There was evidence that temperature‐driven increased respiration occurred via increased fungal biomass (wood) or increased fungal biomass‐specific respiration (leaf litter). Respiration rates increased under nutrient‐enriched conditions on leaves (1.32×) and wood (1.38×), but not FBOM. Respiration rates responded weakly to gradients in N or P concentrations, except for positive effects of P on wood respiration. The temperature dependence of respiration was comparable among years and across N or P concentration for all substrates. Responses of leaf litter and wood respiration to temperature and the combined effects of N and P were similar in magnitude. Our data suggest that the temperature dependence of stream microbial respiration is unchanged by nutrient enrichment, and that increased temperature and N + P availability have additive and comparable effects on microbial respiration rates.

A decline in primary production in the North Sea over 25 years, associated with reductions in zooplankton abundance and fish stock recruitment - Elisa Capuzzo; Christopher P. Lynam; Jon Barry; David Stephens; Rodney M. Forster; Naomi Greenwood; Abigail McQuatters‐Gollop; Tiago Silva; Sonja M. van Leeuwen; Georg H. Engelhard (Global Change Biology, 2018)
Phytoplankton primary production is at the base of the marine food web; changes in primary production have direct or indirect effects on higher trophic levels, from zooplankton organisms to marine mammals and seabirds. Here, we present a new time‐series on gross primary production in the North Sea, from 1988 to 2013, estimated using in situ measurements of chlorophyll and underwater light. This shows that recent decades have seen a significant decline in primary production in the North Sea. Moreover, primary production differs in magnitude between six hydrodynamic regions within the North Sea. Sea surface warming and reduced riverine nutrient inputs are found to be likely contributors to the declining levels of primary production. In turn, significant correlations are found between observed changes in primary production and the dynamics of higher trophic levels including (small) copepods and a standardized index of fish recruitment, averaged over seven stocks of high commercial significance in the North Sea. Given positive (bottom‐up) associations between primary production, zooplankton abundance and fish stock recruitment, this study provides strong evidence that if the decline in primary production continues, knock‐on effects upon the productivity of fisheries are to be expected unless these fisheries are managed effectively and cautiously.

Life history traits and functional processes generate multiple pathways to ecological stability - John P. DeLong; Torrance C. Hanley; Jean P. Gibert; Linda M. Puth; David M. Post (Ecology, 2018)
Stability contributes to the persistence of ecological communities, yet the interactions among different stabilizing forces are poorly understood. We assembled mesocosms with an algal resource and one to eight different clones of the consumer Daphnia ambigua and tracked algal and Daphnia abundances through time. We then fitted coupled ordinary differential equations ( ODE s) to the consumer–resource time series. We show that variation in different components of stability (local stability and the magnitude of population fluctuations) across mesocosms arises through variation in life history traits and the functional processes represented by ODE model parameters. Local stability was enhanced by increased algal growth rate and Daphnia mortality and foraging rate. Population fluctuations were dampened by high Daphnia conversion efficiency and lower interaction strengths, low algal growth rate, high Daphnia death rate, and low Daphnia foraging. These results indicate that (1) stability in consumer–resource systems may arise through the net effect of multiple related stabilizing pathways and (2) different aspects of stability can vary independently and may respond in opposite directions to the same forces.

Antibacterial activity of human simulated epithelial lining fluid concentrations of amikacin inhale alone and in combination with meropenem against Acinetobacter baumannii - Islam M. Ghazi; Mordechai Grupper; David P. Nicolau (Infectious Diseases, 2017)

Widespread Degradation of a Vernal Pool Network in the Southeastern United States: Challenges to Current and Future Management - Jonathan P. Evans; Kristen K. Cecala; Brett R. Scheffers; Callie A. Oldfield; Nicholas A. Hollingshead; David G. Haskell; Benjamin A. McKenzie (Wetlands, 2017)

Quantitative analysis of the impact of droughts and floods on internal wars in China over the last 500 years - Harry F. Lee; David D. Zhang; Qing Pei; Xin Jia; Ricci P. H. Yue (Science China Earth Sciences, 2017)

Identification of the ferredoxin interaction sites on ferredoxin-dependent glutamate synthase from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 - Masakazu Hirasawa; Jacaranda Solis; Nanditha Vaidyanathan; Anurag P. Srivastava; R. Max Wynn; Roger B. Sutton; David B. Knaff (Photosynthesis Research, 2017)

The naked mole-rat exhibits an unusual cardiac myofilament protein profile providing new insights into heart function of this naturally subterranean rodent - Kelly M. Grimes; David Y. Barefield; Mohit Kumar; James W. McNamara; Susan T. Weintraub; Pieter P. de Tombe; Sakthivel Sadayappan; Rochelle Buffenstein (Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, 2017)

Assessing freeze tolerance in St. Augustinegrass: II. acclimation treatment effects - Jennifer A. Kimball; Tan D. Tuong; Consuelo Arellano; David P. Livingston; Susana R. Milla-Lewis (Euphytica, 2017)

Growing Canopy on a College Campus: Understanding Urban Forest Change through Archival Records and Aerial Photography - Lara A. Roman; Jason P. Fristensky; Theodore S. Eisenman; Eric J. Greenfield; Robert E. Lundgren; Chloe E. Cerwinka; David A. Hewitt; Caitlin C. Welsh (Environmental Management, 2017)

Regional restoration benchmarks for Acropora cervicornis - Stephanie A. Schopmeyer; Diego Lirman; Erich Bartels; David S. Gilliam; Elizabeth A. Goergen; Sean P. Griffin; Meaghan E. Johnson; Caitlin Lustic; Kerry Maxwell; Cory S. Walter (Coral Reefs, 2017)

High prevalence of homing behaviour among juvenile coral-reef fishes and the role of body size - Robert P. Streit; David R. Bellwood (Coral Reefs, 2017)

Evidence for a climate-induced ecohydrological state shift in wetland ecosystems of the southern Prairie Pothole Region - Owen P. McKenna; David M. Mushet; Donald O. Rosenberry; James W. LaBaugh (Climatic Change, 2017)

The potential range of Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven) in South Africa: the roles of climate, land use and disturbance - Gareth A. Walker; Mark P. Robertson; Mirijam Gaertner; Laure Gallien; David M. Richardson (Biological Invasions, 2017)

Comparison of road surveys and circuit theory to predict hotspot locations for implementing road-effect mitigation - S. P. Boyle; J. D. Litzgus; David Lesbarrères (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2017)

No evidence for ecological segregation protecting native trout from invasive hybridization - Ryan P. Kovach; Clint C. Muhlfeld; Robert Al‐Chokhachy; Stephen J. Amish; Jeffrey L. Kershner; Robb F. Leary; Winsor H. Lowe; Gordon Luikart; Phil Matson; David A. Schmetterling; Bradley B. Shepard; Peter A. H. Westley; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)

Conservation genomics of the endangered Burmese roofed turtle - F. Gözde Çilingir; Frank E. Rheindt; Kritika M. Garg; Kalyar Platt; Steven G. Platt; David P. Bickford (Conservation Biology, 2017)
The Burmese roofed turtle (Batagur trivittata) is one of the world's most endangered turtles. Only one wild population remains in Myanmar. There are thought to be 12 breeding turtles in the wild. Conservation efforts for the species have raised >700 captive turtles since 2002, predominantly from eggs collected in the wild. We collected tissue samples from 445 individuals (approximately 40% of the turtles’ remaining global population), applied double‐digest restriction‐site associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD‐Seq), and obtained approximately 1500 unlinked genome‐wide single nucleotide polymorphisms. Individuals fell into 5 distinct genetic clusters, 4 of which represented full‐sib families. We inferred a low effective population size (≤10 individuals) but did not detect signs of severe inbreeding, possibly because the population bottleneck occurred recently. Two groups of 30 individuals from the captive pool that were the most genetically diverse were reintroduced to the wild, leading to an increase in the number of fertile eggs ( n = 27) in the wild. Another 25 individuals, selected based on the same criteria, were transferred to the Singapore Zoo as an assurance colony. Our study demonstrates that the research‐to‐application gap in conservation can be bridged through application of cutting‐edge genomic methods.

Trends in anecdotal fox sightings in Tasmania accounted for by psychological factors - Clive A. Marks; Malcolm Clark; David Obendorf; Graham P. Hall; Inês Soares; Filipe Pereira (Conservation Biology, 2017)
There has been little evaluation of anecdotal sightings as a means to confirm new incursions of invasive species. This paper explores the potential for equivocal information communicated by the media to account for patterns of anecdotal reports. In 2001, it was widely reported that red foxes ( Vulpes vulpes ) had been deliberately released in the island state of Tasmania (Australia), although this claim was later revealed to be baseless. Regardless, by 2013 a total of 3153 anecdotal fox sightings had been reported by members of the public, which implied their distribution was wide. For each month in 2001–2003, we defined a monthly media index (MMI) of fox‐related media coverage, an index of their relative seasonal abundance (abundance), and a factor denoting claims of fox evidence (claimed evidence) regardless of its evidentiary quality. We fitted a generalized linear model with Poisson error for monthly totals of anecdotal sightings with factors of year and claimed evidence and covariates of MMI, abundance, and hours of darkness. The collective effect of psychological factors (MMI, claimed evidence, and year) relative to biophysical factors (photoperiod and abundance) was highly significant (χ 2 = 122.1, df = 6, p p = 0.15). An annual index of fox media from 2001 to 2010 was strongly associated with the yearly tally of anecdotal sightings ( p = 0.018). The odds ratio of sightings ranked as reliable by the fox eradication program in any year decreased exponentially at a rate of 0.00643 as the total number of sightings increased ( p

Background invertebrate herbivory on dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa-nana complex) increases with temperature and precipitation across the tundra biome - Isabel C. Barrio; Elin Lindén; Mariska Te Beest; Johan Olofsson; Adrian Rocha; Eeva M. Soininen; Juha M. Alatalo; Tommi Andersson; Ashley Asmus; Julia Boike; Kari Anne Bråthen; John P. Bryant; et al. (Polar Biology, 2017)

Methodological considerations of terrestrial laser scanning for vegetation monitoring in the sagebrush steppe - Kyle E. Anderson; Nancy F. Glenn; Lucas P. Spaete; Douglas J. Shinneman; David S. Pilliod; Robert S. Arkle; Susan K. McIlroy; DeWayne R. Derryberry (Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2017)

The ecology and management of mammal invasions in forests - A. David M. Latham; Bruce Warburton; Andrea E. Byrom; Roger P. Pech (Biological Invasions, 2017)

Erratum to: Modelling foetal exposure to maternal smoking using hepatoblasts from pluripotent stem cells - Baltasar Lucendo-Villarin; Panagiotis Filis; Madeleine J. Swortwood; Marilyn A. Huestis; Jose Meseguer-Ripolles; Kate Cameron; John P. Iredale; Peter J. O’Shaughnessy; Paul A. Fowler; David C. Hay (Archives of Toxicology, 2017)

Modelling foetal exposure to maternal smoking using hepatoblasts from pluripotent stem cells - Baltasar Lucendo-Villarin; Panagiotis Filis; Madeleine J. Swortwood; Marilyn A. Huestis; Jose Meseguer-Ripolles; Kate Cameron; John P. Iredale; Peter J. O’Shaughnessy; Paul A. Fowler; David C. Hay (Archives of Toxicology, 2017)

A new key player in VEGF-dependent angiogenesis in human hepatocellular carcinoma: dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 - Nikki Buijs; J. Efraim Oosterink; Morgan Jessup; Henk Schierbeek; Donna B. Stolz; Alexander P. Houdijk; David A. Geller; Paul A. van Leeuwen (Angiogenesis, 2017)

Optical clearing and fluorescence deep-tissue imaging for 3D quantitative analysis of the brain tumor microenvironment - Tonny Lagerweij; Sophie A. Dusoswa; Adrian Negrean; Esther M. L. Hendrikx; Helga E. de Vries; Jeroen Kole; Juan J. Garcia-Vallejo; Huibert D. Mansvelder; W. Peter Vandertop; David P. Noske; Bakhos A. Tannous; René J. P. Musters; et al. (Angiogenesis, 2017)

Discriminating Ability of Abbreviated Impactor Measurement Approach (AIM) to Detect Changes in Mass Median Aerodynamic Diameter (MMAD) of an Albuterol/Salbutamol pMDI Aerosol - J . David Christopher; Rajni B. Patel; Jolyon P. Mitchell; Terrence P. Tougas; Adrian P. Goodey; Jorge Quiroz; Patrik U. Andersson; Svetlana Lyapustina (AAPS PharmSciTech, 2017)

First global molecular phylogeny and biogeographical analysis of two arachnid orders (Schizomida and Uropygi) supports a tropical Pangean origin and mid‐Cretaceous diversification - Ronald M. Clouse; Michael G. Branstetter; Perry Buenavente; Louise M. Crowley; Jesse Czekanski‐Moir; David Emmanuel M. General; Gonzalo Giribet; Mark S. Harvey; Daniel A. Janies; Alma B. Mohagan; Dave P. Mohagan; Prashant P. Sharma; et al. (Journal of Biogeography, 2017)
Aim We sought to illuminate the history of the arachnid orders Schizomida and Uropygi, neither of which have previously been subjected to global molecular phylogenetic and biogeographical analyses. Location Specimens used in this study were collected in all major tropical and subtropical areas where they are presently found, including the Americas, Africa, Australia and the Indo‐Pacific region. Methods From field‐collected specimens, we sequenced two nuclear and two mitochondrial markers, combined these with publicly available data, and conducted multi‐gene phylogenetic analyses on 240 Schizomida, 24 Uropygi and 12 other arachnid outgroups. Schizomid specimens included one specimen from the small family Protoschizomidae; other schizomid specimens were in Hubbardiidae, subfamily Hubbardiinae, which holds 289 of the order's 305 named species. We inferred ancestral areas using the Dispersal‐Extinction‐Cladogenesis model of range evolution, and we used fossil calibrations to estimate divergence times. Results We recovered monophyletic Schizomida and Uropygi as each other's sister group, forming the clade Thelyphonida, and terminals from the New World were usually positioned as the earliest diverging lineages. The ancestral area for schizomids reconstructed unambiguously to the region comprised of Mexico, Southern California and Florida (the xeric New World subtropics). Optimal trees suggested a single colonization of the Indo‐Pacific in both orders, although this did not receive bootstrap support. Molecular dating gave an Upper Carboniferous origin for each order, and a mid‐Cretaceous expansion of Schizomida, including the origin and initial diversification of those in the Indo‐Pacific. Main conclusions Ancestral area reconstructions, molecular dating and fossil evidence all support an Upper Carboniferous, tropical Pangean origin for Thelyphonida, Schizomida and perhaps Uropygi. Much of this region became unsuitable habitat for these arachnids during the breakup of Pangea, but they persisted in the area that is now Meso‐ and South America. From there they then expanded to the Indo‐Pacific, where schizomids today display an idiosyncratic combination of microendemism and long‐range dispersal.

A global synthesis of the effects of diversified farming systems on arthropod diversity within fields and across agricultural landscapes - Elinor M. Lichtenberg; Christina M. Kennedy; Claire Kremen; Péter Batáry; Frank Berendse; Riccardo Bommarco; Nilsa A. Bosque‐Pérez; Luísa G. Carvalheiro; William E. Snyder; Neal M. Williams; Rachael Winfree; Björn K. Klatt; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Agricultural intensification is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss, which can reduce the provisioning of ecosystem services in managed ecosystems. Organic farming and plant diversification are farm management schemes that may mitigate potential ecological harm by increasing species richness and boosting related ecosystem services to agroecosystems. What remains unclear is the extent to which farm management schemes affect biodiversity components other than species richness, and whether impacts differ across spatial scales and landscape contexts. Using a global metadataset, we quantified the effects of organic farming and plant diversification on abundance, local diversity (communities within fields), and regional diversity (communities across fields) of arthropod pollinators, predators, herbivores, and detritivores. Both organic farming and higher in‐field plant diversity enhanced arthropod abundance, particularly for rare taxa. This resulted in increased richness but decreased evenness. While these responses were stronger at local relative to regional scales, richness and abundance increased at both scales, and richness on farms embedded in complex relative to simple landscapes. Overall, both organic farming and in‐field plant diversification exerted the strongest effects on pollinators and predators, suggesting these management schemes can facilitate ecosystem service providers without augmenting herbivore (pest) populations. Our results suggest that organic farming and plant diversification promote diverse arthropod metacommunities that may provide temporal and spatial stability of ecosystem service provisioning. Conserving diverse plant and arthropod communities in farming systems therefore requires sustainable practices that operate both within fields and across landscapes.

Legacy introductions and climatic variation explain spatiotemporal patterns of invasive hybridization in a native trout - Clint C. Muhlfeld; Ryan P. Kovach; Robert Al‐Chokhachy; Stephen J. Amish; Jeffrey L. Kershner; Robb F. Leary; Winsor H. Lowe; Gordon Luikart; Phil Matson; David A. Schmetterling; Bradley B. Shepard; Peter A. H. Westley; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Hybridization between invasive and native species, a significant threat to worldwide biodiversity, is predicted to increase due to climate‐induced expansions of invasive species. Long‐term research and monitoring are crucial for understanding the ecological and evolutionary processes that modulate the effects of invasive species. Using a large, multidecade genetics dataset ( N = 582 sites, 12,878 individuals) with high‐resolution climate predictions and extensive stocking records, we evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamics of hybridization between native cutthroat trout and invasive rainbow trout, the world's most widely introduced invasive fish, across the Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States. Historical effects of stocking and contemporary patterns of climatic variation were strongly related to the spread of hybridization across space and time. The probability of occurrence, extent of, and temporal changes in hybridization increased at sites in close proximity to historical stocking locations with greater rainbow trout propagule pressure, warmer water temperatures, and lower spring precipitation. Although locations with warmer water temperatures were more prone to hybridization, cold sites were not protected from invasion; 58% of hybridized sites had cold mean summer water temperatures (

Combined effects of agrochemicals and ecosystem services on crop yield across Europe - Vesna Gagic; David Kleijn; András Báldi; Gergely Boros; Helene Bracht Jørgensen; Zoltán Elek; Michael P. D. Garratt; G. Arjen de Groot; Katarina Hedlund; Anikó Kovács‐Hostyánszki; Lorenzo Marini; Emily Martin; et al. (Ecology Letters, 2017)
Simultaneously enhancing ecosystem services provided by biodiversity below and above ground is recommended to reduce dependence on chemical pesticides and mineral fertilisers in agriculture. However, consequences for crop yield have been poorly evaluated. Above ground, increased landscape complexity is assumed to enhance biological pest control, whereas below ground, soil organic carbon is a proxy for several yield‐supporting services. In a field experiment replicated in 114 fields across Europe, we found that fertilisation had the strongest positive effect on yield, but hindered simultaneous harnessing of below‐ and above‐ground ecosystem services. We furthermore show that enhancing natural enemies and pest control through increasing landscape complexity can prove disappointing in fields with low soil services or in intensively cropped regions. Thus, understanding ecological interdependences between land use, ecosystem services and yield is necessary to promote more environmentally friendly farming by identifying situations where ecosystem services are maximised and agrochemical inputs can be reduced.

Biomarkers of Acute Stroke Etiology (BASE) Study Methodology - Edward C. Jauch; Andrew D. Barreto; Joseph P. Broderick; Doug M. Char; Brett L. Cucchiara; Thomas G. Devlin; Alison J. Haddock; William J. Hicks; Brian C. Hiestand; Glen C. Jickling; Jeff June; David S. Liebeskind; et al. (Translational Stroke Research, 2017)

Recovery of Bennu’s orientation for the OSIRIS-REx mission: implications for the spin state accuracy and geolocation errors - Erwan Mazarico; David D. Rowlands; Terence J. Sabaka; Kenneth M. Getzandanner; David P. Rubincam; Joseph B. Nicholas; Michael C. Moreau (Journal of Geodesy, 2017)

Environmental DNA (eDNA) detects the invasive crayfishes Orconectes rusticus and Pacifastacus leniusculus in large lakes of North America - Eric R. Larson; Mark A. Renshaw; Crysta A. Gantz; John Umek; Sudeep Chandra; David M. Lodge; Scott P. Egan (Hydrobiologia, 2017)

Case Report and Review of the Literature: Cardiomyopathy in a Young Woman on High-Dose Quetiapine - David M. E. Smolders; Walter A. P. Smolders (Cardiovascular Toxicology, 2017)

Human subcortical brain asymmetries in 15,847 people worldwide reveal effects of age and sex - Tulio Guadalupe; Samuel R. Mathias; Theo G. M. vanErp; Christopher D. Whelan; Marcel P. Zwiers; Yoshinari Abe; Lucija Abramovic; Ingrid Agartz; Ole A. Andreassen; Alejandro Arias-Vásquez; Benjamin S. Aribisala; Nicola J. Armstrong; et al. (Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2017)

Beta-adrenergic antagonism modulates functional connectivity in the default mode network of individuals with and without autism spectrum disorder - John P. Hegarty; Bradley J. Ferguson; Rachel M. Zamzow; Landon J. Rohowetz; Jeffrey D. Johnson; Shawn E. Christ; David Q. Beversdorf (Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2017)

Time dependent pharmacokinetics of pembrolizumab in patients with solid tumor and its correlation with best overall response - Hongshan Li; Jingyu Yu; Chao Liu; Jiang Liu; Sriram Subramaniam; Hong Zhao; Gideon M. Blumenthal; David C. Turner; Claire Li; Malidi Ahamadi; Rik de Greef; Manash Chatterjee; et al. (Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, 2017)

Carbonate drowning successions of the Bird’s Head, Indonesia - David P. Gold; Peter M. Burgess; Marcelle K. BouDagher-Fadel (Facies, 2017)

Widespread hybridization and bidirectional introgression in sympatric species of coral reef fish - Hugo B. Harrison; Michael L. Berumen; Pablo Saenz‐Agudelo; Eva Salas; David H. Williamson; Geoffrey P. Jones (Molecular Ecology, 2017)
Coral reefs are highly diverse ecosystems, where numerous closely related species often coexist. How new species arise and are maintained in these high geneflow environments have been long‐standing conundrums. Hybridization and patterns of introgression between sympatric species provide a unique insight into the mechanisms of speciation and the maintenance of species boundaries. In this study, we investigate the extent of hybridization between two closely related species of coral reef fish: the common coral trout ( Plectropomus leopardus ) and the bar‐cheek coral trout ( Plectropomus maculatus ). Using a complementary set of 25 microsatellite loci, we distinguish pure genotype classes from first‐ and later‐generation hybrids, identifying 124 interspecific hybrids from a collection of 2,991 coral trout sampled in inshore and mid‐shelf reefs of the southern Great Barrier Reef. Hybrids were ubiquitous among reefs, fertile and spanned multiple generations suggesting both ecological and evolutionary processes are acting to maintain species barriers. We elaborate on these finding to investigate the extent of genomic introgression and admixture from 2,271 SNP loci recovered from a dd RAD library of pure and hybrid individuals. An analysis of genomic clines on recovered loci indicates that 261 SNP loci deviate from a model of neutral introgression, of which 132 indicate a pattern of introgression consistent with selection favouring both hybrid and parental genotypes. Our findings indicate genome‐wide, bidirectional introgression between two sympatric species of coral reef fishes and provide further support to a growing body of evidence for the role of hybridization in the evolution of coral reef fishes.

Asymmetric responses of primary productivity to precipitation extremes: A synthesis of grassland precipitation manipulation experiments - Kevin R. Wilcox; Zheng Shi; Laureano A. Gherardi; Nathan P. Lemoine; Sally E. Koerner; David L. Hoover; Edward Bork; Kerry M. Byrne; James Cahill; Scott L. Collins; Sarah Evans; Anna K. Gilgen; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Climatic changes are altering Earth's hydrological cycle, resulting in altered precipitation amounts, increased interannual variability of precipitation, and more frequent extreme precipitation events. These trends will likely continue into the future, having substantial impacts on net primary productivity ( NPP ) and associated ecosystem services such as food production and carbon sequestration. Frequently, experimental manipulations of precipitation have linked altered precipitation regimes to changes in NPP . Yet, findings have been diverse and substantial uncertainty still surrounds generalities describing patterns of ecosystem sensitivity to altered precipitation. Additionally, we do not know whether previously observed correlations between NPP and precipitation remain accurate when precipitation changes become extreme. We synthesized results from 83 case studies of experimental precipitation manipulations in grasslands worldwide. We used meta‐analytical techniques to search for generalities and asymmetries of aboveground NPP ( ANPP ) and belowground NPP ( BNPP ) responses to both the direction and magnitude of precipitation change. Sensitivity (i.e., productivity response standardized by the amount of precipitation change) of BNPP was similar under precipitation additions and reductions, but ANPP was more sensitive to precipitation additions than reductions; this was especially evident in drier ecosystems. Additionally, overall relationships between the magnitude of productivity responses and the magnitude of precipitation change were saturating in form. The saturating form of this relationship was likely driven by ANPP responses to very extreme precipitation increases, although there were limited studies imposing extreme precipitation change, and there was considerable variation among experiments. This highlights the importance of incorporating gradients of manipulations, ranging from extreme drought to extreme precipitation increases into future climate change experiments. Additionally, policy and land management decisions related to global change scenarios should consider how ANPP and BNPP responses may differ, and that ecosystem responses to extreme events might not be predicted from relationships found under moderate environmental changes.

CO 2 exchange and evapotranspiration across dryland ecosystems of southwestern North America - Joel A. Biederman; Russell L. Scott; Tom W. Bell; David R. Bowling; Sabina Dore; Jaime Garatuza‐Payan; Thomas E. Kolb; Praveena Krishnan; Dan J. Krofcheck; Marcy E. Litvak; Gregory E. Maurer; Tilden P. Meyers; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Global‐scale studies suggest that dryland ecosystems dominate an increasing trend in the magnitude and interannual variability of the land CO 2 sink. However, such analyses are poorly constrained by measured CO 2 exchange in drylands. Here we address this observation gap with eddy covariance data from 25 sites in the water‐limited Southwest region of North America with observed ranges in annual precipitation of 100–1000 mm, annual temperatures of 2–25°C, and records of 3–10 years (150 site‐years in total). Annual fluxes were integrated using site‐specific ecohydrologic years to group precipitation with resulting ecosystem exchanges. We found a wide range of carbon sink/source function, with mean annual net ecosystem production ( NEP ) varying from ‐350 to +330 gC m −2 across sites with diverse vegetation types, contrasting with the more constant sink typically measured in mesic ecosystems. In this region, only forest‐dominated sites were consistent carbon sinks. Interannual variability of NEP , gross ecosystem production ( GEP ), and ecosystem respiration (R eco ) was larger than for mesic regions, and half the sites switched between functioning as C sinks/C sources in wet/dry years. The sites demonstrated coherent responses of GEP and NEP to anomalies in annual evapotranspiration ( ET ), used here as a proxy for annually available water after hydrologic losses. Notably, GEP and R eco were negatively related to temperature, both interannually within site and spatially across sites, in contrast to positive temperature effects commonly reported for mesic ecosystems. Models based on MODIS satellite observations matched the cross‐site spatial pattern in mean annual GEP but consistently underestimated mean annual ET by ~50%. Importantly, the MODIS ‐based models captured only 20–30% of interannual variation magnitude. These results suggest the contribution of this dryland region to variability of regional to global CO 2 exchange may be up to 3–5 times larger than current estimates.

Soil fertility shapes belowground food webs across a regional climate gradient - Etienne Laliberté; Paul Kardol; Raphael K. Didham; François P. Teste; Benjamin L. Turner; David A. Wardle (Ecology Letters, 2017)
Changes in soil fertility during pedogenesis affect the quantity and quality of resources entering the belowground subsystem. Climate governs pedogenesis, yet how climate modulates responses of soil food webs to soil ageing remains unexplored because of the paucity of appropriate model systems. We characterised soil food webs along each of four retrogressive soil chronosequences situated across a strong regional climate gradient to show that belowground communities are predominantly shaped by changes in fertility rather than climate. Basal consumers showed hump‐shaped responses to soil ageing, which were propagated to higher‐order consumers. There was a shift in dominance from bacterial to fungal energy channels with increasing soil age, while the root energy channel was most important in intermediate‐aged soils. Our study highlights the overarching importance of soil fertility in regulating soil food webs, and indicates that belowground food webs will respond more strongly to shifts in soil resources than climate change.

Age‐specific infectious period shapes dynamics of pneumonia in bighorn sheep - Raina K. Plowright; Kezia R. Manlove; Thomas E. Besser; David J. Páez; Kimberly R. Andrews; Patrick E. Matthews; Lisette P. Waits; Peter J. Hudson; E. Frances Cassirer (Ecology Letters, 2017)
Superspreading, the phenomenon where a small proportion of individuals contribute disproportionately to new infections, has profound effects on disease dynamics. Superspreading can arise through variation in contacts, infectiousness or infectious periods. The latter has received little attention, yet it drives the dynamics of many diseases of critical public health, livestock health and conservation concern. Here, we present rare evidence of variation in infectious periods underlying a superspreading phenomenon in a free‐ranging wildlife system. We detected persistent infections of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae , the primary causative agent of pneumonia in bighorn sheep ( Ovis canadensis ), in a small number of older individuals that were homozygous at an immunologically relevant genetic locus. Interactions among age‐structure, genetic composition and infectious periods may drive feedbacks in disease dynamics that determine the magnitude of population response to infection. Accordingly, variation in initial conditions may explain divergent population responses to infection that range from recovery to catastrophic decline and extirpation.

Ethanol withdrawal-induced dysregulation of neurosteroid levels in plasma, cortex, and hippocampus in genetic animal models of high and low withdrawal - Jeremiah P. Jensen; Michelle A. Nipper; Melinda L. Helms; Matthew M. Ford; John C. Crabbe; David J. Rossi; Deborah A. Finn (Psychopharmacology, 2017)

Seed germination traits of desert perennials - Lucy E. Commander; Peter J. Golos; Ben P. Miller; David J. Merritt (Plant Ecology, 2017)

Fluid-induced lung injury—role of TRPV4 channels - Shailesh Bihari; Dani-Louise Dixon; Mark D. Lawrence; Dylan De Bellis; Claudine S. Bonder; David P. Dimasi; Andrew D Bersten (Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, 2017)

Rapid divergence of animal personality and syndrome structure across an arid-aquatic habitat matrix - Nicholas P. Moran; Krystina D. Mossop; Ross M. Thompson; David G. Chapple; Bob B. M. Wong (Oecologia, 2017)

Assessment of the Neuroprotective Effects of Arginine-Rich Protamine Peptides, Poly-Arginine Peptides (R12-Cyclic, R22) and Arginine–Tryptophan-Containing Peptides Following In Vitro Excitotoxicity and/or Permanent Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in Rats - Bruno P. Meloni; Diego Milani; Jane L. Cross; Vince W. Clark; Adam B. Edwards; Ryan S. Anderton; David J. Blacker; Neville W. Knuckey (NeuroMolecular Medicine, 2017)

Notes on the taxonomy and lectotypification of Cyperus macer (Cyperaceae) - V. P. Prasad; David A. Simpson (Kew Bulletin, 2017)

Indigenous arthropod natural enemies of the invasive brown marmorated stink bug in North America and Europe - Paul K. Abram; Kim A. Hoelmer; Angelita Acebes-Doria; Heather Andrews; Elizabeth H. Beers; J. Christopher Bergh; Ric Bessin; David Biddinger; Paul Botch; Matthew L. Buffington; Mary L. Cornelius; Elena Costi; et al. (Journal of Pest Science, 2017)

Inhibitor of Endocannabinoid Deactivation Protects Against In Vitro and In Vivo Neurotoxic Effects of Paraoxon - Karen L. G. Farizatto; Sara A. McEwan; Vinogran Naidoo; Spyros P. Nikas; Vidyanand G. Shukla; Michael F. Almeida; Aaron Byrd; Heather Romine; David A. Karanian; Alexandros Makriyannis; Ben A. Bahr (Journal of Molecular Neuroscience, 2017)

Influence of diet and ambient water on hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios in fish tissue: patterns within and among tissues and relationships with growth rates - David P. Coulter; Gabriel J. Bowen; Tomas O. Höök (Hydrobiologia, 2017)

ADAR RNA editing in human disease; more to it than meets the I - Angela Gallo; Dragana Vukic; David Michalík; Mary A. O’Connell; Liam P. Keegan (Human Genetics, 2017)

Early action on Paris Agreement allows for more time to change energy systems - Heleen L. van Soest; Harmen Sytze de Boer; Mark Roelfsema; Michel G.J. den Elzen; Annemiek Admiraal; Detlef P. van Vuuren; Andries F. Hof; Maarten van den Berg; Mathijs J.H.M. Harmsen; David E.H.J. Gernaat; Nicklas Forsell (Climatic Change, 2017)

Climate model forecast biases assessed with a perturbed physics ensemble - David P. Mulholland; Keith Haines; Sarah N. Sparrow; David Wallom (Climate Dynamics, 2017)

Challenges in confirming eradication success of invasive red-eared sliders - Pablo García-Díaz; David S. L. Ramsey; Andrew P. Woolnough; Marc Franch; Gustavo A. Llorente; Albert Montori; Xabier Buenetxea; Asier R. Larrinaga; Matthieu Lasceve; Alberto Álvarez; José María Traverso; Aitor Valdeón; et al. (Biological Invasions, 2017)

Streptomyces asenjonii sp. nov., isolated from hyper-arid Atacama Desert soils and emended description of Streptomyces viridosporus Pridham et al. 1958 - Michael Goodfellow; Kanungnid Busarakam; Hamidah Idris; David P. Labeda; Imen Nouioui; Roselyn Brown; Byung-Yong Kim; Maria del Carmen Montero-Calasanz; Barbara A. Andrews; Alan T. Bull (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 2017)

Impacts of a bivalve mass mortality event on an estuarine food web and bivalve grazing pressure - Hannah F. E. Jones; Conrad A. Pilditch; David P. Hamilton; Karin R. Bryan (New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 2017)
Declines in bivalve populations have been quite common worldwide, often associated with coastal development, pollution and climate change. In addition to the impacts of these chronic stressors, occasional mass mortality events may have severe consequences on ecosystem services and biodiversity. In this study, we examined the impact of a mass mortality event of the clam ( Austrovenus stutchburyi ) on an estuarine food web and the grazing pressure exerted by the bivalve population. In February 2009, c. 60% of the clam population died in Whangateau Harbour, New Zealand. Population clearance rate calculations suggest that the clam population do not exert significant top‐down control on phytoplankton biomass in the estuary, and thus the impact of the mortality event on bivalve grazing pressure was less severe than the reduction in abundance would suggest. A trophic model shows that phytoplankton play a limited role in the estuary food web, which is instead dominated by microphytobenthos and clams. This study highlights the importance of microphytobenthos in shallow estuaries, and the application of the trophic model is a useful tool that can identify key components of the ecosystem and could help inform monitoring programmes.

Leaf and canopy scale drivers of genotypic variation in soybean response to elevated carbon dioxide concentration - Álvaro Sanz‐Sáez; Robert P. Koester; David M. Rosenthal; Christopher M. Montes; Donald R. Ort; Elizabeth A. Ainsworth (Global Change Biology, 2017)
The atmospheric [ CO 2 ] in which crops grow today is greater than at any point in their domestication history and represents an opportunity for positive effects on seed yield that can counteract the negative effects of greater heat and drought this century. In order to maximize yields under future atmospheric [ CO 2 ], we need to identify and study crop cultivars that respond most favorably to elevated [ CO 2 ] and understand the mechanisms contributing to their responsiveness. Soybean ( Glycine max Merr.) is a widely grown oilseed crop and shows genetic variation in response to elevated [ CO 2 ]. However, few studies have studied the physiological basis for this variation. Here, we examined canopy light interception, photosynthesis, respiration and radiation use efficiency along with yield and yield parameters in two cultivars of soybean (Loda and HS 93‐4118) previously reported to have similar seed yield at ambient [ CO 2 ], but contrasting responses to elevated [ CO 2 ]. Seed yield increased by 26% at elevated [ CO 2 ] (600 μmol/mol) in the responsive cultivar Loda, but only by 11% in HS 93‐4118. Canopy light interception and leaf area index were greater in HS 93‐4118 in ambient [ CO 2 ], but increased more in response to elevated [ CO 2 ] in Loda. Radiation use efficiency and harvest index were also greater in Loda than HS 93‐4118 at both ambient and elevated [ CO 2 ]. Daily C assimilation was greater at elevated [ CO 2 ] in both cultivars, while stomatal conductance was lower. Electron transport capacity was also greater in Loda than HS 93‐4118, but there was no difference in the response of photosynthetic traits to elevated [ CO 2 ] in the two cultivars. Overall, this greater understanding of leaf‐ and canopy‐level photosynthetic traits provides a strong conceptual basis for modeling genotypic variation in response to elevated [ CO 2 ].

Increased Arctic sea ice drift alters adult female polar bear movements and energetics - George M. Durner; David C. Douglas; Shannon E. Albeke; John P. Whiteman; Steven C. Amstrup; Evan Richardson; Ryan R. Wilson; Merav Ben‐David (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Recent reductions in thickness and extent have increased drift rates of Arctic sea ice. Increased ice drift could significantly affect the movements and the energy balance of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) which forage, nearly exclusively, on this substrate. We used radio‐tracking and ice drift data to quantify the influence of increased drift on bear movements, and we modeled the consequences for energy demands of adult females in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas during two periods with different sea ice characteristics. Westward and northward drift of the sea ice used by polar bears in both regions increased between 1987–1998 and 1999–2013. To remain within their home ranges, polar bears responded to the higher westward ice drift with greater eastward movements, while their movements north in the spring and south in fall were frequently aided by ice motion. To compensate for more rapid westward ice drift in recent years, polar bears covered greater daily distances either by increasing their time spent active (7.6%–9.6%) or by increasing their travel speed (8.5%–8.9%). This increased their calculated annual energy expenditure by 1.8%–3.6% (depending on region and reproductive status), a cost that could be met by capturing an additional 1–3 seals/year. Polar bears selected similar habitats in both periods, indicating that faster drift did not alter habitat preferences. Compounding reduced foraging opportunities that result from habitat loss; changes in ice drift, and associated activity increases, likely exacerbate the physiological stress experienced by polar bears in a warming Arctic.

Variations of leaf longevity in tropical moist forests predicted by a trait‐driven carbon optimality model - Xiangtao Xu; David Medvigy; Stuart Joseph Wright; Kaoru Kitajima; Jin Wu; Loren P. Albert; Giordane A. Martins; Scott R. Saleska; Stephen W. Pacala (Ecology Letters, 2017)
Leaf longevity ( LL ) varies more than 20‐fold in tropical evergreen forests, but it remains unclear how to capture these variations using predictive models. Current theories of LL that are based on carbon optimisation principles are challenging to quantitatively assess because of uncertainty across species in the ‘ageing rate:’ the rate at which leaf photosynthetic capacity declines with age. Here, we present a meta‐analysis of 49 species across temperate and tropical biomes, demonstrating that the ageing rate of photosynthetic capacity is positively correlated with the mass‐based carboxylation rate of mature leaves. We assess an improved trait‐driven carbon optimality model with in situ LL data for 105 species in two Panamanian forests. We show that our model explains over 40% of the cross‐species variation in LL under contrasting light environment. Collectively, our results reveal how variation in LL emerges from carbon optimisation constrained by both leaf structural traits and abiotic environment.

A Review of the Tools Used for Marine Monitoring in the UK: Combining Historic and Contemporary Methods with Modeling and Socioeconomics to Fulfill Legislative Needs and Scientific Ambitions - Tim P. Bean; Naomi Greenwood; Rachel Beckett; Lauren Biermann; John P. Bignell; Jan L. Brant; Gordon H. Copp; Michelle J. Devlin; Stephen Dye; Stephen W. Feist; Liam Fernand; Dean Foden; et al. (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2017)

Nitrogen availability alters rhizosphere processes mediating soil organic matter mineralisation - Conor J. Murphy; Elizabeth M. Baggs; Nicholas Morley; David P. Wall; Eric Paterson (Plant and Soil, 2017)

The Adaptive Evolution Database (TAED): A New Release of a Database of Phylogenetically Indexed Gene Families from Chordates - Russell A. Hermansen; Benjamin P. Oswald; Stormy Knight; Stephen D. Shank; David Northover; Katharine L. Korunes; Stephen N. Michel; David A. Liberles (Journal of Molecular Evolution, 2017)

Post-diagnosis serum insulin-like growth factors in relation to dietary and lifestyle changes in the Prostate testing for cancer and Treatment (ProtecT) trial - Vanessa Er; Kalina Biernacka; Andrew J. Simpkin; Richard M. Martin; Mona Jeffreys; Pauline Emmett; Rebecca Gilbert; Kerry N. L. Avery; Eleanor Walsh; Michael Davis; Jenny L. Donovan; David E. Neal; et al. (Cancer Causes & Control, 2017)
Purpose The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system is modifiable by diet and lifestyle, and has been linked to prostate cancer development and progression. Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study of 621 men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer to investigate the associations of dietary and lifestyle changes with post-diagnosis circulating levels of IGF-I and IGFBP-3. We used analysis of covariance to estimate the associations, controlling for baseline IGF-I or IGFBP-3, respectively. Results Mean IGF-I levels were 6.5% (95% CI −12.8, −0.3%, p = 0.04) lower in men who decreased their protein intake after diagnosis compared to men who did not change. Men who changed their fruit and vegetable intake had lower IGF-I levels compared to non-changers [Decreased intake: −10.1%, 95% CI −18.4, −1.8%, p = 0.02; Increased intake: −12.0%, 95% CI −18.4, −1.8%, p = 0.002]. IGFBP-3 was 14.6% (95% CI −24.5, −4.8%, p = 0.004) lower in men who achieved a healthy body mass index after diagnosis. Men who became inactive had 9.5% higher average IGF-I levels (95% CI 0.1, 18.9%, p = 0.05). Conclusions Decreased protein intake and body mass index, and increased physical activity and fruit and vegetable intake, following a prostate cancer diagnosis were associated with reduced post-diagnosis serum IGF-I and IGFBP-3. Counterintuitively, reduced fruit and vegetable intake was also associated with reduced IGF-I, but with weak statistical support, possibly implicating chance. If confirmed in other studies, our findings may inform potential lifestyle interventions in prostate cancer. ProtecT was registered at International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Registry, http://isrctn.org as ISRCTN20141297.

White matter abnormalities are associated with overall cognitive status in blast-related mTBI - Danielle R. Miller; Jasmeet P. Hayes; Ginette Lafleche; David H. Salat; Mieke Verfaellie (Brain Imaging and Behavior, 2017)

Predation of diaspidid scale insects on kiwifruit vines by European earwigs, Forficula auricularia, and steel-blue ladybirds, Halmus chalybeus - David P. Logan; Bridget J. Maher; Christina A. Rowe (BioControl, 2017)

Taxonomy of the order Mononegavirales: update 2017 - Gaya K. Amarasinghe; Yīmíng Bào; Christopher F. Basler; Sina Bavari; Martin Beer; Nicolás Bejerman; Kim R. Blasdell; Alisa Bochnowski; Thomas Briese; Alexander Bukreyev; Charles H. Calisher; Kartik Chandran; et al. (Archives of Virology, 2017)

Global patterns of interaction specialization in bird–flower networks - Thais B. Zanata; Bo Dalsgaard; Fernando C. Passos; Peter A. Cotton; James J. Roper; Pietro K. Maruyama; Erich Fischer; Matthias Schleuning; Ana M. Martín González; Jeferson Vizentin‐Bugoni; Donald C. Franklin; Stefan Abrahamczyk; et al. (Journal of Biogeography, 2017)
Aim Among the world's three major nectar‐feeding bird taxa, hummingbirds are the most phenotypically specialized for nectarivory, followed by sunbirds, while the honeyeaters are the least phenotypically specialized taxa. We tested whether this phenotypic specialization gradient is also found in the interaction patterns with their floral resources. Location Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania/Australia. Methods We compiled interaction networks between birds and floral resources for 79 hummingbird, nine sunbird and 33 honeyeater communities. Interaction specialization was quantified through connectance ( C ), complementary specialization ( H 2 ′), binary ( Q B ) and weighted modularity ( Q ), with both observed and null‐model corrected values. We compared interaction specialization among the three types of bird–flower communities, both independently and while controlling for potential confounding variables, such as plant species richness, asymmetry, latitude, insularity, topography, sampling methods and intensity. Results Hummingbird–flower networks were more specialized than honeyeater–flower networks. Specifically, hummingbird–flower networks had a lower proportion of realized interactions (lower C ), decreased niche overlap (greater H 2 ′) and greater modularity (greater Q B ). However, we found no significant differences between hummingbird– and sunbird–flower networks, nor between sunbird– and honeyeater–flower networks. Main conclusions As expected, hummingbirds and their floral resources have greater interaction specialization than honeyeaters, possibly because of greater phenotypic specialization and greater floral resource richness in the New World. Interaction specialization in sunbird–flower communities was similar to both hummingbird–flower and honeyeater–flower communities. This may either be due to the relatively small number of sunbird–flower networks available, or because sunbird–flower communities share features of both hummingbird–flower communities (specialized floral shapes) and honeyeater–flower communities (fewer floral resources). These results suggest a link between interaction specialization and both phenotypic specialization and floral resource richness within bird–flower communities at a global scale.

Assessing global patterns in mammalian carnivore occupancy and richness by integrating local camera trap surveys - Lindsey N. Rich; Courtney L. Davis; Zach J. Farris; David A. W. Miller; Jody M. Tucker; Sandra Hamel; Mohammad S. Farhadinia; Robin Steenweg; Mario S. Di Bitetti; Kanchan Thapa; Mamadou D. Kane; S. Sunarto; et al. (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2017)
Aim Biodiversity loss is a major driver of ecosystem change, yet the ecological data required to detect and mitigate losses are often lacking. Recently, camera trap surveys have been suggested as a method for sampling local wildlife communities, because these observations can be collated into a global monitoring network. To demonstrate the potential of camera traps for global monitoring, we assembled data from multiple local camera trap surveys to evaluate the interchange between fine‐ and broad‐scale processes impacting mammalian carnivore communities. Location Argentina, Belize, Botswana, Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Madagascar, Nepal, Norway, Senegal, South Africa, and the U.S.A. Methods We gathered camera trap data, totalling > 100,000 trap nights, from across five continents. To analyse local and species‐specific responses to anthropogenic and environmental variables, we fitted multispecies occurrence models to each study area. To analyse global‐level responses, we then fitted a multispecies, multi‐area occurrence model. Results We recorded 4,805 detections of 96 mammalian carnivore species photographed across 1,714 camera stations located in 12 countries. At the global level, our models revealed that carnivore richness and occupancy within study areas was positively associated with prey availability. Occupancy within study areas also tended to increase with greater protection and greater distances to roads. The strength of these relationships, however, differed among countries. Main conclusions We developed a research framework for leveraging global camera trap data to evaluate patterns of mammalian carnivore occurrence and richness across multiple spatial scales. Our research highlights the importance of intact prey populations and protected areas in conserving carnivore communities. Our research also highlights the potential of camera traps for monitoring wildlife communities and provides a case study for how this can be achieved on a global scale. We encourage greater integration and standardization among camera trap studies worldwide, which would help inform effective conservation planning for wildlife populations both locally and globally.

Hydrologic refugia, plants, and climate change - Blair C. McLaughlin; David D. Ackerly; P. Zion Klos; Jennifer Natali; Todd E. Dawson; Sally E. Thompson (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Climate, physical landscapes, and biota interact to generate heterogeneous hydrologic conditions in space and over time, which are reflected in spatial patterns of species distributions. As these species distributions respond to rapid climate change, microrefugia may support local species persistence in the face of deteriorating climatic suitability. Recent focus on temperature as a determinant of microrefugia insufficiently accounts for the importance of hydrologic processes and changing water availability with changing climate. Where water scarcity is a major limitation now or under future climates, hydrologic microrefugia are likely to prove essential for species persistence, particularly for sessile species and plants. Zones of high relative water availability – mesic microenvironments – are generated by a wide array of hydrologic processes, and may be loosely coupled to climatic processes and therefore buffered from climate change. Here, we review the mechanisms that generate mesic microenvironments and their likely robustness in the face of climate change. We argue that mesic microenvironments will act as species‐specific refugia only if the nature and space/time variability in water availability are compatible with the ecological requirements of a target species. We illustrate this argument with case studies drawn from California oak woodland ecosystems. We posit that identification of hydrologic refugia could form a cornerstone of climate‐cognizant conservation strategies, but that this would require improved understanding of climate change effects on key hydrologic processes, including frequently cryptic processes such as groundwater flow.

Gross primary production responses to warming, elevated CO 2 , and irrigation: quantifying the drivers of ecosystem physiology in a semiarid grassland - Edmund M. Ryan; Kiona Ogle; Drew Peltier; Anthony P. Walker; Martin G. De Kauwe; Belinda E. Medlyn; David G. Williams; William Parton; Shinichi Asao; Bertrand Guenet; Anna B. Harper; Xingjie Lu; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Determining whether the terrestrial biosphere will be a source or sink of carbon (C) under a future climate of elevated CO 2 ( eCO 2 ) and warming requires accurate quantification of gross primary production ( GPP ), the largest flux of C in the global C cycle. We evaluated 6 years (2007–2012) of flux‐derived GPP data from the Prairie Heating and CO 2 Enrichment ( PHACE ) experiment, situated in a grassland in Wyoming, USA . The GPP data were used to calibrate a light response model whose basic formulation has been successfully used in a variety of ecosystems. The model was extended by modeling maximum photosynthetic rate ( A max ) and light‐use efficiency ( Q ) as functions of soil water, air temperature, vapor pressure deficit, vegetation greenness, and nitrogen at current and antecedent (past) timescales. The model fits the observed GPP well ( R 2 = 0.79), which was confirmed by other model performance checks that compared different variants of the model (e.g. with and without antecedent effects). Stimulation of cumulative 6‐year GPP by warming (29%, P = 0.02) and eCO 2 (26%, P = 0.07) was primarily driven by enhanced C uptake during spring (129%, P = 0.001) and fall (124%, P = 0.001), respectively, which was consistent across years. Antecedent air temperature (Tair ant ) and vapor pressure deficit ( VPD ant ) effects on A max (over the past 3–4 days and 1–3 days, respectively) were the most significant predictors of temporal variability in GPP among most treatments. The importance of VPD ant suggests that atmospheric drought is important for predicting GPP under current and future climate; we highlight the need for experimental studies to identify the mechanisms underlying such antecedent effects. Finally, posterior estimates of cumulative GPP under control and eCO 2 treatments were tested as a benchmark against 12 terrestrial biosphere models ( TBM s). The narrow uncertainties of these data‐driven GPP estimates suggest that they could be useful semi‐independent data streams for validating TBMs.

Global synthesis of the temperature sensitivity of leaf litter breakdown in streams and rivers - Jennifer J. Follstad Shah; John S. Kominoski; Marcelo Ardón; Walter K. Dodds; Mark O. Gessner; Natalie A. Griffiths; Charles P. Hawkins; Sherri L. Johnson; Antoine Lecerf; Carri J. LeRoy; David W. P. Manning; Amy D. Rosemond; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Streams and rivers are important conduits of terrestrially derived carbon (C) to atmospheric and marine reservoirs. Leaf litter breakdown rates are expected to increase as water temperatures rise in response to climate change. The magnitude of increase in breakdown rates is uncertain, given differences in litter quality and microbial and detritivore community responses to temperature, factors that can influence the apparent temperature sensitivity of breakdown and the relative proportion of C lost to the atmosphere vs. stored or transported downstream. Here, we synthesized 1025 records of litter breakdown in streams and rivers to quantify its temperature sensitivity, as measured by the activation energy ( E a , in eV ). Temperature sensitivity of litter breakdown varied among twelve plant genera for which E a could be calculated. Higher values of E a were correlated with lower‐quality litter, but these correlations were influenced by a single, N‐fixing genus ( Alnus ). E a values converged when genera were classified into three breakdown rate categories, potentially due to continual water availability in streams and rivers modulating the influence of leaf chemistry on breakdown. Across all data representing 85 plant genera, the E a was 0.34 ± 0.04 eV , or approximately half the value (0.65 eV ) predicted by metabolic theory. Our results indicate that average breakdown rates may increase by 5–21% with a 1–4 °C rise in water temperature, rather than a 10–45% increase expected, according to metabolic theory. Differential warming of tropical and temperate biomes could result in a similar proportional increase in breakdown rates, despite variation in E a values for these regions (0.75 ± 0.13 eV and 0.27 ± 0.05 eV, respectively). The relative proportions of gaseous C loss and organic matter transport downstream should not change with rising temperature given that E a values for breakdown mediated by microbes alone and microbes plus detritivores were similar at the global scale.

Phosphorus in agricultural soils: drivers of its distribution at the global scale - Bruno Ringeval; Laurent Augusto; Hervé Monod; Dirk van Apeldoorn; Lex Bouwman; Xiaojuan Yang; David L. Achat; Louise P. Chini; Kristof Van Oost; Bertrand Guenet; Rong Wang; Bertrand Decharme; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Phosphorus (P) availability in soils limits crop yields in many regions of the World, while excess of soil P triggers aquatic eutrophication in other regions. Numerous processes drive the global spatial distribution of P in agricultural soils, but their relative roles remain unclear. Here, we combined several global data sets describing these drivers with a soil P dynamics model to simulate the distribution of P in agricultural soils and to assess the contributions of the different drivers at the global scale. We analysed both the labile inorganic P ( P ILAB ), a proxy of the pool involved in plant nutrition and the total soil P ( P TOT ). We found that the soil biogeochemical background corresponding to P inherited from natural soils at the conversion to agriculture ( BIOG ) and farming practices ( FARM ) were the main drivers of the spatial variability in cropland soil P content but that their contribution varied between P TOT vs. P ILAB . When the spatial variability was computed between grid cells at half‐degree resolution, we found that almost all of the P TOT spatial variability could be explained by BIOG , while BIOG and FARM explained 38% and 63% of P ILAB spatial variability, respectively. Our work also showed that the driver contribution was sensitive to the spatial scale characterizing the variability (grid cell vs. continent) and to the region of interest (global vs. tropics for instance). In particular, the heterogeneity of farming practices between continents was large enough to make FARM contribute to the variability in P TOT at that scale. We thus demonstrated how the different drivers were combined to explain the global distribution of agricultural soil P. Our study is also a promising approach to investigate the potential effect of P as a limiting factor for agroecosystems at the global scale.

Novel Bio-Logging Tool for Studying Fine-Scale Behaviors of Marine Turtles in Response to Sound - Reny B. Tyson; Wendy E. D. Piniak; Camila Domit; David Mann; Michael Hall; Douglas P. Nowacek; Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2017)

Accounting for positional uncertainty in historical shoreline change analysis without ground reference information - Phillipe Wernette; Ashton Shortridge; David P. Lusch; Alan F. Arbogast (International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2017)

Modelling spatial trends in sorghum breeding field trials using a two-dimensional P-spline mixed model - Julio G. Velazco; María Xosé Rodríguez-Álvarez; Martin P. Boer; David R. Jordan; Paul H. C. Eilers; Marcos Malosetti; Fred A. van Eeuwijk (Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2017)

Photochemically Controlled Drug Dosing from a Polymeric Scaffold - Louise Donnelly; John G. Hardy; Sean P. Gorman; David S. Jones; Nicola J. Irwin; Colin P. McCoy (Pharmaceutical Research, 2017)

Carbon dioxide emissions and sediment organic carbon burials across a gradient of trophic state in eleven New Zealand lakes - Arianto B. Santoso; David P. Hamilton; Chris H. Hendy; Louis A. Schipper (Hydrobiologia, 2017)

Establishment and characterization of a platinum- and paclitaxel-resistant high grade serous ovarian carcinoma cell line - Pang-Ning Teng; Nicholas W. Bateman; Guisong Wang; Tracy Litzi; Brian E. Blanton; Brian L. Hood; Kelly A. Conrads; Wei Ao; Kate E. Oliver; Kathleen M. Darcy; William P. McGuire; Keren Paz; et al. (Human Cell, 2017)

Comparison of the recovery response from high-intensity and high-volume resistance exercise in trained men - Sandro Bartolomei; Eliahu Sadres; David D. Church; Eliott Arroyo; Joseph A. Gordon III; Alyssa N. Varanoske; Ran Wang; Kyle S. Beyer; Leonardo P. Oliveira; Jeffrey R. Stout; Jay R. Hoffman (European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2017)

Characterization of resistance to the wheat stem sawfly in spring wheat landrace accessions from targeted geographic regions of the world - Andrea C. Varella; David K. Weaver; Jason P. Cook; Nancy K. Blake; Megan L. Hofland; Peggy F. Lamb; Luther E. Talbert (Euphytica, 2017)

Application of Species Distribution Models to Identify Estuarine Hot Spots for Juvenile Nekton - Ann Commagere Hijuelos; Shaye E. Sable; Ann M. O’Connell; James P. Geaghan; David C. Lindquist; Eric D. White (Estuaries and Coasts, 2017)

Decrease in young-of-the-year yellow perch growth rates following Bythotrephes longimanus invasion - David F. Staples; Ryan P. Maki; Jodie K. Hirsch; W. Charles Kerfoot; Jaime F. LeDuc; Tom Burri; Brenda Moraska Lafrancois; Jay Glase (Biological Invasions, 2017)

Emergent climate and CO 2 sensitivities of net primary productivity in ecosystem models do not agree with empirical data in temperate forests of eastern North America - Christine R. Rollinson; Yao Liu; Ann Raiho; David J. P. Moore; Jason McLachlan; Daniel A. Bishop; Alex Dye; Jaclyn H. Matthes; Amy Hessl; Thomas Hickler; Neil Pederson; Benjamin Poulter; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Ecosystem models show divergent responses of the terrestrial carbon cycle to global change over the next century. Individual model evaluation and multimodel comparisons with data have largely focused on individual processes at subannual to decadal scales. Thus far, data‐based evaluations of emergent ecosystem responses to climate and CO 2 at multidecadal and centennial timescales have been rare. We compared the sensitivity of net primary productivity ( NPP ) to temperature, precipitation, and CO 2 in ten ecosystem models with the sensitivities found in tree‐ring reconstructions of NPP and raw ring‐width series at six temperate forest sites. These model‐data comparisons were evaluated at three temporal extents to determine whether the rapid, directional changes in temperature and CO 2 in the recent past skew our observed responses to multiple drivers of change. All models tested here were more sensitive to low growing season precipitation than tree‐ring NPP and ring widths in the past 30 years, although some model precipitation responses were more consistent with tree rings when evaluated over a full century. Similarly, all models had negative or no response to warm‐growing season temperatures, while tree‐ring data showed consistently positive effects of temperature. Although precipitation responses were least consistent among models, differences among models to CO 2 drive divergence and ensemble uncertainty in relative change in NPP over the past century. Changes in forest composition within models had no effect on climate or CO 2 sensitivity. Fire in model simulations reduced model sensitivity to climate and CO 2 , but only over the course of multiple centuries. Formal evaluation of emergent model behavior at multidecadal and multicentennial timescales is essential to reconciling model projections with observed ecosystem responses to past climate change. Future evaluation should focus on improved representation of disturbance and biomass change as well as the feedbacks with moisture balance and CO 2 in individual models.

Quantitative trait loci controlling vegetative propagation traits mapped in European pear (Pyrus communis L.) - Mareike Knäbel; Adam P. Friend; John W. Palmer; Robert Diack; Susan E. Gardiner; Stuart Tustin; Robert Schaffer; Toshi Foster; David Chagné (Tree Genetics & Genomes, 2017)

Selective Transgenic Expression of Mutant Ubiquitin in Purkinje Cell Stripes in the Cerebellum - Bert M. Verheijen; Romina J. G. Gentier; Denise J. H. P. Hermes; Fred W. van Leeuwen; David A. Hopkins (The Cerebellum, 2017)

Global synthesis of the documented and projected effects of climate change on inland fishes - Bonnie J. E. Myers; Abigail J. Lynch; David B. Bunnell; Cindy Chu; Jeffrey A. Falke; Ryan P. Kovach; Trevor J. Krabbenhoft; Thomas J. Kwak; Craig P. Paukert (Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 2017)

Evaluating species-specific changes in hydrologic regimes: an iterative approach for salmonids in the Greater Yellowstone Area (USA) - Robert Al-Chokhachy; Adam J. Sepulveda; Andrew M. Ray; David P. Thoma; Michael T. Tercek (Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 2017)

Chilling out: the evolution and diversification of psychrophilic algae with a focus on Chlamydomonadales - Marina Cvetkovska; Norman P. A. Hüner; David Roy Smith (Polar Biology, 2017)

Comparison of phytohormone levels and transcript profiles during seasonal dormancy transitions in underground adventitious buds of leafy spurge - Wun S. Chao; Münevver Doğramacı; David P. Horvath; James V. Anderson; Michael E. Foley (Plant Molecular Biology, 2017)

Factors affecting hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) attraction to rural villages in arable landscapes - Carly E. Pettett; Tom P. Moorhouse; Paul J. Johnson; David W. Macdonald (European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2017)

Factors influencing the post-exercise hepcidin-25 response in elite athletes - Peter Peeling; Alannah K. A. McKay; David B. Pyne; Kym J. Guelfi; Rachel H. McCormick; Coby M. Laarakkers; Dorine W. Swinkels; Laura A. Garvican-Lewis; Megan L. R. Ross; Avish P. Sharma; Jill J. Leckey; Louise M. Burke (European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2017)

Novel microsatellite loci reveal high genetic diversity yet low population structure for alfalfa leafcutting bees in North America - James P. Strange; Deborah A. Delaney; David R. Tarpy; Rosalind R. James (Conservation Genetics, 2017)

Detection of phosphate transporter genes from arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in mature tree roots under experimental soil pH manipulation - Sarah R. Carrino-Kyker; Laurel A. Kluber; Kaitlin P. Coyle; David J. Burke (Symbiosis, 2017)

Accelerated and accentuated neurocognitive aging in HIV infection - David P. Sheppard; Jennifer E. Iudicello; Erin E. Morgan; Rujvi Kamat; Lindsay R. Clark; Gunes Avci; Mark W. Bondi; Steven Paul Woods (Journal of NeuroVirology, 2017)

A comparison of the sensitivity, stability, and reliability of three diagnostic schemes for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders - Savanna M. Tierney; David P. Sheppard; Victoria M. Kordovski; Marika P. Faytell; Gunes Avci; Steven Paul Woods (Journal of NeuroVirology, 2017)

Critical Review on the Public Health Impact of Norovirus Contamination in Shellfish and the Environment: A UK Perspective - Francis Hassard; Jasmine H. Sharp; Helen Taft; Lewis LeVay; John P. Harris; James E. McDonald; Karen Tuson; James Wilson; David L. Jones; Shelagh K. Malham (Food and Environmental Virology, 2017)

Parasites of Harmonia axyridis: current research and perspectives - Danny Haelewaters; Serena Y. Zhao; Susana Clusella-Trullas; Ted E. Cottrell; André De Kesel; Lukáš Fiedler; Annette Herz; Helen Hesketh; Cang Hui; Regina G. Kleespies; John E. Losey; Ingrid A. Minnaar; et al. (BioControl, 2017)

Interspecific hybridization causes long‐term phylogenetic discordance between nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in freshwater fishes - Graham P. Wallis; Sophia R. Cameron‐Christie; Hannah L. Kennedy; Gemma Palmer; Tessa R. Sanders; David J. Winter (Molecular Ecology, 2017)
Classification, phylogeography and the testing of evolutionary hypotheses rely on correct estimation of species phylogeny. Early molecular phylogenies often relied on mt DNA alone, which acts as a single linkage group with one history. Over the last decade, the use of multiple nuclear sequences has often revealed conflict among gene trees. This observation can be attributed to hybridization, lineage sorting, paralogy or selection. Here, we use 54 groups of fishes from 48 studies to estimate the degree of concordance between mitochondrial and nuclear gene trees in two ecological grades of fishes: marine and freshwater. We test the hypothesis that freshwater fish phylogenies should, on average, show more discordance because of their higher propensity for hybridization in the past. In keeping with this idea, concordance between mitochondrial and nuclear gene trees (as measured by proportion of components shared) is on average 50% higher in marine fishes. We discuss why this difference almost certainly results from introgression caused by greater historical hybridization among lineages in freshwater groups, and further emphasize the need to use multiple nuclear genes, and identify conflict among them, in estimation of species phylogeny.

Population genetic structure and adaptation of malaria parasites on the edge of endemic distribution - Craig W. Duffy; Hampate Ba; Samuel Assefa; Ambroise D. Ahouidi; Yacine B. Deh; Abderahmane Tandia; Freja C. M. Kirsebom; Dominic P. Kwiatkowski; David J. Conway (Molecular Ecology, 2017)
To determine whether the major human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum exhibits fragmented population structure or local adaptation at the northern limit of its African distribution where the dry Sahel zone meets the Sahara, samples were collected from diverse locations within Mauritania over a range of ~1000 km. Microsatellite genotypes were obtained for 203 clinical infection samples from eight locations, and Illumina paired‐end sequences were obtained to yield high coverage genomewide single nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP ) data for 65 clinical infection samples from four locations. Most infections contained single parasite genotypes, reflecting low rates of transmission and superinfection locally, in contrast to the situation seen in population samples from countries further south. A minority of infections shared related or identical genotypes locally, indicating some repeated transmission of parasite clones without recombination. This caused some multilocus linkage disequilibrium and local divergence, but aside from the effect of repeated genotypes there was minimal differentiation between locations. Several chromosomal regions had elevated integrated haplotype scores (| iHS |) indicating recent selection, including those containing drug resistance genes. A genomewide F ST scan comparison with previous sequence data from an area in West Africa with higher infection endemicity indicates that regional gene flow prevents genetic isolation, but revealed allele frequency differentiation at three drug resistance loci and an erythrocyte invasion ligand gene. Contrast of extended haplotype signatures revealed none to be unique to Mauritania. Discrete foci of infection on the edge of the Sahara are genetically highly connected to the wider continental parasite population, and local elimination would be difficult to achieve without very substantial reduction in malaria throughout the region.

From song dialects to speciation in white‐crowned sparrows - David P. L. Toews (Molecular Ecology, 2017)
The behavioural signals used in mate selection are a key component in the evolution of premating isolating barriers and, subsequently, the formation of new species. The importance of mating signals has a long tradition of study in songbirds, where many species differ in their song characteristics. In oscine songbirds, individual birds usually learn their songs from a tutor. Mistakes during learning can help generate geographic dialects, akin to those within human language groups. In songbirds, dialect differences can often be substantial and there is an intuitive connection between the evolution of song amongst populations at a small scale, and the more substantive song differences between bird species and presumably used in species recognition. However, studies investigating the concordance between putative genetic and behavioural boundaries have generated mixed results. In many cases, this is possibly a function of the poor resolving power of the genetic markers employed. In this issue of Molecular Ecology , Lipshutz et al . ( ) combine genomic markers with a robust behavioural assay to address the importance of song variation amongst white‐crowned sparrow ( Zonotrichia leucophrys ) subspecies.

Does inherent flammability of grass and litter fuels contribute to continental patterns of landscape fire activity? - Lynda D. Prior; Brett P. Murphy; Grant J. Williamson; Mark A. Cochrane; W. Matt Jolly; David M. J. S. Bowman (Journal of Biogeography, 2017)
Aims To (1) identify the trade‐offs among flammability attributes within grass and litter fuel types; (2) determine how flammability attributes of grass and litter fuels vary across macro‐ecological gradients; and (3) test our hypothesis that inherent flammability attributes of grass and litter fuels scale to satellite‐derived proxies for fire frequency and intensity. Location Continent of Australia. Methods Samples of litter and grass fuels collected from 133 sites across Australia were oven dried, then burnt under controlled conditions. Measurements of ignitability, combustibility and sustainability were made. Estimates of fire frequency and fire radiative power (a proxy for intensity) were derived from satellite imagery. Multivariate analyses were used to identify inter‐relationships among variables and trends across macro‐ecological gradients. Results Flammability was best described by two axes: high rate of combustion versus long duration of burning, and fast rate of spread versus high maximum temperature. As expected, our study confirmed that grass and litter fuel types have inherently differently flammability attributes whereby grass samples burn more quickly, with a higher rate of spread, than litter samples. However, there were also smaller differences in flammability attributes within fuel types, which scaled to rainfall, temperature and soil phosphorus concentrations. In keeping with our hypothesis, we found correlations between inherent fuel flammability attributes and landscape fire activity across the Australian continent. Fire frequency and rate of combustion of grass fuels were both highest in the tropics, and fire intensity and maximum temperature during combustion of litter fuels were highest in temperate areas. Main conclusions At a continental scale, we found landscape fire activity was correlated with inherent flammability of grass and litter fuels. This inherent flammability contributes to observed pyrogeographical patterns that are shaped by climate through its known effects on plant productivity, the abundance of cured grass biomass and fire weather.

Fire is a major driver of patterns of genetic diversity in two co‐occurring Tasmanian palaeoendemic conifers - James R. P. Worth; Gregory J. Jordan; James R. Marthick; Shota Sakaguchi; Eric A. Colhoun; Grant J. Williamson; Motomi Ito; David M. J. S. Bowman (Journal of Biogeography, 2017)
Aim The impacts of Holocene fires on the genetic architecture of fire‐intolerant species have largely been overlooked. Here, we investigate the relative impacts of the last glacial climate versus Holocene fires on the genetic diversity of two co‐occurring, fire‐intolerant conifers using a comparative population genetic study. Location The palaeoendemic plant‐rich montane rain forests and alpine coniferous heath of Tasmania, Australia. Methods The Tasmanian endemic conifers Athrotaxis cupressoides D. Don (461 samples from 20 populations) and Diselma archeri Hook.f. (576 samples from 23 populations, 16 of which were for sites sampled for A. cupressoides ), were genotyped using eight and nine EST nuclear microsatellites respectively. Genetic diversity and structure was compared between the two species and the factors underlying genetic patterns in both species were investigated by examining isolation by distance, correlations with Last Glacial Maximum modelled distributions and the fossil record, and a fire history index of the sampled stands. Results The range‐wide genetic structure of the two species was similar ( F st = 0.09 and F’ st = 0.21 for A. cupressoides versus D. archeri ; F st = 0.06 and F’ st = 0.24), and there were significant correlations between species for population‐based expected heterozygosity, allelic richness, private allelic richness and pairwise genetic divergences. Furthermore, genetic diversity metrics decreased significantly with an index of fire history. Given fossil evidence and modelling evidence that both species occurred near their current ranges during the last glaciation and a lack of evidence for isolation by distance in either species, the plausible explanation for the patterns of diversity is genetic decline resulting from repeated Holocene fires. Main conclusions Our study suggests that fire can have substantial impacts on genetic structure and diversity of plant species, particularly those without fire‐tolerant traits, and that any increases in fire resulting from climate change may impose substantial threats to such species. In Tasmania, the observed increase in dry lightning in recent years, combined with periods of abnormally dry conditions, may therefore further degrade the range and genetic diversity of fire‐intolerant palaeoendemic species.

Large extents of intensive land use limit community reorganization during climate warming - Tom H. Oliver; Simon Gillings; James W. Pearce‐Higgins; Tom Brereton; Humphrey Q. P. Crick; Simon J. Duffield; Michael D. Morecroft; David B. Roy (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Climate change is increasingly altering the composition of ecological communities, in combination with other environmental pressures such as high‐intensity land use. Pressures are expected to interact in their effects, but the extent to which intensive human land use constrains community responses to climate change is currently unclear. A generic indicator of climate change impact, the community temperature index ( CTI ), has previously been used to suggest that both bird and butterflies are successfully ‘tracking’ climate change. Here, we assessed community changes at over 600 English bird or butterfly monitoring sites over three decades and tested how the surrounding land has influenced these changes. We partitioned community changes into warm‐ and cold‐associated assemblages and found that English bird communities have not reorganized successfully in response to climate change. CTI increases for birds are primarily attributable to the loss of cold‐associated species, whilst for butterflies, warm‐associated species have tended to increase. Importantly, the area of intensively managed land use around monitoring sites appears to influence these community changes, with large extents of intensively managed land limiting ‘adaptive’ community reorganization in response to climate change. Specifically, high‐intensity land use appears to exacerbate declines in cold‐adapted bird and butterfly species, and prevent increases in warm‐associated birds. This has broad implications for managing landscapes to promote climate change adaptation.

A decade of boreal rich fen greenhouse gas fluxes in response to natural and experimental water table variability - David Olefeldt; Eugénie S. Euskirchen; Jennifer Harden; Evan Kane; A. David McGuire; Mark P. Waldrop; Merritt R. Turetsky (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Rich fens are common boreal ecosystems with distinct hydrology, biogeochemistry and ecology that influence their carbon (C) balance. We present growing season soil chamber methane emission ( F CH 4 ), ecosystem respiration ( ER ), net ecosystem exchange ( NEE ) and gross primary production ( GPP ) fluxes from a 9‐years water table manipulation experiment in an Alaskan rich fen. The study included major flood and drought years, where wetting and drying treatments further modified the severity of droughts. Results support previous findings from peatlands that drought causes reduced magnitude of growing season F CH 4 , GPP and NEE , thus reducing or reversing their C sink function. Experimentally exacerbated droughts further reduced the capacity for the fen to act as a C sink by causing shifts in vegetation and thus reducing magnitude of maximum growing season GPP in subsequent flood years by ~15% compared to control plots. Conversely, water table position had only a weak influence on ER , but dominant contribution to ER switched from autotrophic respiration in wet years to heterotrophic in dry years. Droughts did not cause inter‐annual lag effects on ER in this rich fen, as has been observed in several nutrient‐poor peatlands. While ER was dependent on soil temperatures at 2 cm depth, F CH 4 was linked to soil temperatures at 25 cm. Inter‐annual variability of deep soil temperatures was in turn dependent on wetness rather than air temperature, and higher F CH 4 in flooded years was thus equally due to increased methane production at depth and decreased methane oxidation near the surface. Short‐term fluctuations in wetness caused significant lag effects on F CH 4 , but droughts caused no inter‐annual lag effects on F CH 4 . Our results show that frequency and severity of droughts and floods can have characteristic effects on the exchange of greenhouse gases, and emphasize the need to project future hydrological regimes in rich fens.

miR-216 and miR-217 expression is reduced in transgenic mouse models of pancreatic adenocarcinoma, knockout of miR-216/miR-217 host gene is embryonic lethal - Ana Clara P. Azevedo-Pouly; Dhruvitkumar S. Sutaria; Jinmai Jiang; Ola A. Elgamal; Foued Amari; David Allard; Paul J. Grippo; Vincenzo Coppola; Thomas D. Schmittgen (Functional & Integrative Genomics, 2017)

Assessing freeze-tolerance in St. Augustinegrass: temperature response and evaluation methods - Jennifer A. Kimball; Tan D. Tuong; Consuelo Arellano; David P. Livingston III; Susana R. Milla-Lewis (Euphytica, 2017)

Potential consequences of angling on nest-site fidelity in largemouth bass - William M. Twardek; Aaron D. Shultz; Julie E. Claussen; Steven J. Cooke; Jeffrey A. Stein; Jeffrey B. Koppelman; Frank J. S. Phelan; David P. Philipp (Environmental Biology of Fishes, 2017)

Streptomyces aridus sp. nov., isolated from a high altitude Atacama Desert soil and emended description of Streptomyces noboritoensis Isono et al. 1957 - Hamidah Idris; David P. Labeda; Imen Nouioui; Jean Franco Castro; Maria del Carmen Montero-Calasanz; Alan T. Bull; Juan A. Asenjo; Michael Goodfellow (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 2017)

The progress of interdisciplinarity in invasion science - Ana S. Vaz; Christoph Kueffer; Christian A. Kull; David M. Richardson; Stefan Schindler; A. Jesús Muñoz-Pajares; Joana R. Vicente; João Martins; Cang Hui; Ingolf Kühn; João P. Honrado (Ambio, 2017)

Cooperative Research to Evaluate an Incidental Catch Distribution Forecast - Sara M. Turner; Jonathan A. Hare; John P. Manderson; John J. Hoey; David E. Richardson; Christopher L. Sarro; Ryan Silva (Frontiers in Marine Science, 2017)

Concentrations, biological uptake, and respiration of dissolved acrylate and dimethylsulfoxide in the northern Gulf of Mexico - Inger Marie B. Tyssebotn; Joanna D. Kinsey; David J. Kieber; Ronald P. Kiene; Alison N. Rellinger; Jessie Motard‐Côté (Limnology and Oceanography, 2017)
The abundant marine organosulfur compound, dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) can be degraded to acrylate and dimethylsulfide (DMS), with some DMS further oxidized to dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Despite intensive study of DMSP and DMS in a variety of marine settings, the processes affecting acrylate and DMSO concentrations in marine waters are poorly known, particularly their loss from the dissolved phase through biological uptake. We measured the concentrations of dissolved acrylate (acrylate d ) and DMSO (DMSO d ) in coastal and open‐ocean waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico during non‐bloom conditions and quantified the rates and kinetics of their biological uptake using 14 C labeled substrates. Acrylate d concentrations and uptake rates ranged from 0.8–2.1 nmol L −1 and 0.07–1.8 nmol L −1 d −1 , respectively. Somewhat higher uptake rates were observed for DMSO d (0.27–3.9 nmol L −1 d −1 ) owing to higher DMSO d concentrations (5.5–14 nmol L −1 ). Both compounds were taken up by the microbial community with high affinity uptake systems, with similar K s and V max values to those for other well‐studied biological substrates including amino acids and monosaccharides. However, median turnover times were relatively slow, 4.8 d for acrylate d and 7.4 d for DMSO d . The slow acrylate d turnover points to low supply rates of this compound to the dissolved phase, a finding consistent with previous observations that the microbial DMSP lyase pathway accounts for only a small fraction of dissolved DMSP degradation (and therefore acrylate production) in the Gulf of Mexico.

Pushing precipitation to the extremes in distributed experiments: recommendations for simulating wet and dry years - Alan K. Knapp; Meghan L. Avolio; Claus Beier; Charles J. W. Carroll; Scott L. Collins; Jeffrey S. Dukes; Lauchlan H. Fraser; Robert J. Griffin‐Nolan; David L. Hoover; Anke Jentsch; Michael E. Loik; Richard P. Phillips; et al. (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Intensification of the global hydrological cycle, ranging from larger individual precipitation events to more extreme multiyear droughts, has the potential to cause widespread alterations in ecosystem structure and function. With evidence that the incidence of extreme precipitation years (defined statistically from historical precipitation records) is increasing, there is a clear need to identify ecosystems that are most vulnerable to these changes and understand why some ecosystems are more sensitive to extremes than others. To date, opportunistic studies of naturally occurring extreme precipitation years, combined with results from a relatively small number of experiments, have provided limited mechanistic understanding of differences in ecosystem sensitivity, suggesting that new approaches are needed. Coordinated distributed experiments ( CDE s) arrayed across multiple ecosystem types and focused on water can enhance our understanding of differential ecosystem sensitivity to precipitation extremes, but there are many design challenges to overcome (e.g., cost, comparability, standardization). Here, we evaluate contemporary experimental approaches for manipulating precipitation under field conditions to inform the design of ‘Drought‐Net’, a relatively low‐cost CDE that simulates extreme precipitation years. A common method for imposing both dry and wet years is to alter each ambient precipitation event. We endorse this approach for imposing extreme precipitation years because it simultaneously alters other precipitation characteristics (i.e., event size) consistent with natural precipitation patterns. However, we do not advocate applying identical treatment levels at all sites – a common approach to standardization in CDE s. This is because precipitation variability varies >fivefold globally resulting in a wide range of ecosystem‐specific thresholds for defining extreme precipitation years. For CDE s focused on precipitation extremes, treatments should be based on each site's past climatic characteristics. This approach, though not often used by ecologists, allows ecological responses to be directly compared across disparate ecosystems and climates, facilitating process‐level understanding of ecosystem sensitivity to precipitation extremes.

Extreme climatic events constrain space use and survival of a ground‐nesting bird - Evan P. Tanner; R. Dwayne Elmore; Samuel D. Fuhlendorf; Craig. A. Davis; David K. Dahlgren; Jeremy P. Orange (Global Change Biology, 2017)
Two fundamental issues in ecology are understanding what influences the distribution and abundance of organisms through space and time. While it is well established that broad‐scale patterns of abiotic and biotic conditions affect organisms’ distributions and population fluctuations, discrete events may be important drivers of space use, survival, and persistence. These discrete extreme climatic events can constrain populations and space use at fine scales beyond that which is typically measured in ecological studies. Recently, a growing body of literature has identified thermal stress as a potential mechanism in determining space use and survival. We sought to determine how ambient temperature at fine temporal scales affected survival and space use for a ground‐nesting quail species ( Colinus virginianus ; northern bobwhite). We modeled space use across an ambient temperature gradient (ranging from −20 to 38 °C) through a maxent algorithm. We also used Andersen–Gill proportional hazard models to assess the influence of ambient temperature‐related variables on survival through time. Estimated available useable space ranged from 18.6% to 57.1% of the landscape depending on ambient temperature. The lowest and highest ambient temperature categories ( 35 °C, respectively) were associated with the least amount of estimated useable space (18.6% and 24.6%, respectively). Range overlap analysis indicated dissimilarity in areas where Colinus virginianus were restricted during times of thermal extremes (range overlap = 0.38). This suggests that habitat under a given condition is not necessarily a habitat under alternative conditions. Further, we found survival was most influenced by weekly minimum ambient temperatures. Our results demonstrate that ecological constraints can occur along a thermal gradient and that understanding the effects of these discrete events and how they change over time may be more important to conservation of organisms than are average and broad‐scale conditions as typically measured in ecological studies.

A global database of nitrogen and phosphorus excretion rates of aquatic animals - Michael J. Vanni; Peter B. McIntyre; Dennis Allen; Diane L. Arnott; Jonathan P. Benstead; David J. Berg; Åge Brabrand; Sébastien Brosse; Paul A. Bukaveckas; Adriano Caliman; Krista A. Capps; Luciana S. Carneiro; et al. (Ecology, 2017)
Animals can be important in modulating ecosystem‐level nutrient cycling, although their importance varies greatly among species and ecosystems. Nutrient cycling rates of individual animals represent valuable data for testing the predictions of important frameworks such as the Metabolic Theory of Ecology ( MTE ) and ecological stoichiometry ( ES ). They also represent an important set of functional traits that may reflect both environmental and phylogenetic influences. Over the past two decades, studies of animal‐mediated nutrient cycling have increased dramatically, especially in aquatic ecosystems. Here we present a global compilation of aquatic animal nutrient excretion rates. The dataset includes 10,534 observations from freshwater and marine animals of N and/or P excretion rates. These observations represent 491 species, including most aquatic phyla. Coverage varies greatly among phyla and other taxonomic levels. The dataset includes information on animal body size, ambient temperature, taxonomic affiliations, and animal body N:P. This data set was used to test predictions of MTE and ES , as described in Vanni and McIntyre (2016; Ecology DOI : 10.1002/ecy.1582 ).

Automated tetraploid genotype calling by hierarchical clustering - Cari A. Schmitz Carley; Joseph J. Coombs; David S. Douches; Paul C. Bethke; Jiwan P. Palta; Richard G. Novy; Jeffrey B. Endelman (Theoretical and Applied Genetics, 2017)

Predation by New Zealand sea lions and Brown Skuas is causing the continued decline of an Eastern Rockhopper Penguin colony on Campbell Island - Kyle W. Morrison; Doug P. Armstrong; Phil F. Battley; Sarah E. Jamieson; David R. Thompson (Polar Biology, 2017)

Teleconnections between Ethiopian rainfall variability and global SSTs: observations and methods for model evaluation - Mekonnen Adnew Degefu; David P. Rowell; Woldeamlak Bewket (Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 2017)

Stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) of total organic carbon and long-chain n-alkanes as proxies for climate and environmental change in a sediment core from Lake Petén-Itzá, Guatemala - Jennifer L. Mays; Mark Brenner; Jason H. Curtis; Kathryn V. Curtis; David A. Hodell; Alex Correa-Metrio; Jaime Escobar; Andrea L. Dutton; Andrew R. Zimmerman; Thomas P. Guilderson (Journal of Paleolimnology, 2017)

Prenatal exposure to fine particles and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and birth outcomes: a two-pollutant approach - W. A. Jedrychowski; Renata Majewska; J. D. Spengler; David Camann; E. L. Roen; F. P. Perera (International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2017)

Editorial: Cutting edge in systemic lupus erythematosus - David P. D’Cruz; Annegret Kuhn (Immunologic Research, 2017)

Global networks for invasion science: benefits, challenges and guidelines - Jasmin G. Packer; Laura A. Meyerson; David M. Richardson; Giuseppe Brundu; Warwick J. Allen; Ganesh P. Bhattarai; Hans Brix; Susan Canavan; Stefano Castiglione; Angela Cicatelli; Jan Čuda; James T. Cronin; et al. (Biological Invasions, 2017)

Phylogenetic relationships in the family Streptomycetaceae using multi-locus sequence analysis - David P. Labeda; Christopher A. Dunlap; Xiaoying Rong; Ying Huang; James R. Doroghazi; Kou-San Ju; William W. Metcalf (Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 2017)

Pedigree Reconstruction with Genome-Wide Markers in Potato - Jeffrey B. Endelman; Cari A. Schmitz Carley; David S. Douches; Joseph J. Coombs; Benoit Bizimungu; Walter S. De Jong; Kathleen G. Haynes; David G. Holm; J. Creighton Miller; Richard G. Novy; Jiwan P. Palta; David L. Parish; et al. (American Journal of Potato Research, 2017)

Chew, shake, and tear: Prey processing in Australian sea lions ( Neophoca cinerea ) - David P. Hocking; Monique A. Ladds; David J. Slip; Erich M. G. Fitzgerald; Alistair R. Evans (Marine Mammal Science, 2017)
Pinnipeds generally target relatively small prey that can be swallowed whole, yet often include larger prey in their diet. To eat large prey, they must first process it into pieces small enough to swallow. In this study we explored the range of prey‐processing behaviors used by Australian sea lions ( Neophoca cinerea ) when presented with large prey during captive feeding trials. The most common methods were chewing using the teeth, shaking prey at the surface, and tearing prey held between the teeth and forelimbs. Although pinnipeds do not masticate their food, we found that sea lions used chewing to create weak points in large prey to aid further processing and to prepare secured pieces of prey for swallowing. Shake feeding matches the processing behaviors observed in fur seals, but use of forelimbs for “hold and tear” feeding has not been previously reported for other otariids. When performing this processing method, prey was torn by being stretched between the teeth and forelimbs, where it was secured by being squeezed between the palms of their flippers. These results show that Australian sea lions use a broad repertoire of behaviors for prey processing, which matches the wide range of prey species in their diet.

Biogeography of a plant invasion: drivers of latitudinal variation in enemy release - Warwick J. Allen; Laura A. Meyerson; David Cummings; John Anderson; Ganesh P. Bhattarai; James T. Cronin (Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2017)
Aim The relationship between herbivory and latitude may differ between native and invasive plant taxa, which can generate biogeographical heterogeneity in the strength of enemy release. Our aim was to compare latitudinal gradients in herbivory between native and invasive plants and investigate whether gradients are driven by local adaptation or phenotypic plasticity. Location North America. Methods Using sympatric native and invasive lineages of the wetland grass Phragmites australis and the specialist gall‐fly Lipara rufitarsis , we conducted a field survey to examine whether the relationship between herbivory (the proportion of stems galled) and latitude was parallel between lineages. In a subsequent common garden experiment, we assessed whether latitudinal gradients in herbivory were genetically based or driven by phenotypic plasticity. Results In the field, L. rufitarsis herbivory on the native P. australis lineage increased from 27% of stems galled in southern populations (36.5°) to 37% in northern populations (43.6°), whereas there was no relationship for the invasive lineage. Similar relationships were evident in the common garden experiment, indicating a genetic basis to latitudinal variation in herbivory. Moreover, the invasive lineage suffered five times less herbivory than the native lineage on average, supporting the enemy release hypothesis. However, a genetic basis to this pattern was absent in the common garden experiment, suggesting that local environmental conditions were responsible for the enemy release observed in nature. Specifically, stem height, diameter and density during the L. rufitarsis oviposition period appeared to be important drivers of herbivory. Main conclusions Non‐parallel gradients in herbivory may help explain the equivocal results of other studies that examine enemy release and biotic resistance at local scales, and can be an important mechanism promoting biogeographical variation in invasion success. We suggest that these latitudinal patterns in herbivory and other species interactions are likely to be a common phenomenon across a range of invaded systems.