The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world, threatening the persistence of many Arctic species. It is uncertain if Arctic wildlife will have sufficient time to adapt to such rapidly warming environments. We used genetic forecasting to measure the risk of maladaptation to warming temperatures and sea ice loss in polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) sampled across the Canadian Arctic. We found evidence for loc...

Objectives The occurrence of metallo-beta-lactamase-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MBL-PA) isolates is increasing globally, including in Switzerland. The aim of this study was to characterise, phenotypically and genotypically, the MBL-PA isolates submitted to the Swiss National Reference Center for Emerging Antibiotic Resistance (NARA) reference laboratory over a 12-month period from July 2022 to July 2023. Methods Thirty-n...

Sympathovagal balance is important in the pathogenesis of hypertension and independently associated with mortality. We evaluated the value of automated analysis of cross-correlation baroreflex sensitivity (xBRS) and heart rate variability (HRV) and its relationship with clinical covariates in 13,326 participants from the multi-ethnic HELIUS study. Finger blood pressure (BP) was continuously recorded, from which xBRS, standard...

Forest models are instrumental for understanding and projecting the impact of climate change on forests. A considerable number of forest models have been developed in the last decades. However, few systematic and comprehensive model comparisons have been performed in Europe that combine an evaluation of modelled carbon and water fluxes and forest structure. We evaluate 13 widely used, state‐of‐the‐art, stand‐scale forest model...

Summary Bacteriophages are highly selective in targeting bacteria. This selectivity relies on the specific adsorption of phages to the host cell surface. In this study, a Tn5 transposon mutant library of Erwinia amylovora , the causative agent of fire blight, was screened to identify bacterial receptors required for infection by the podovirus S6. Phage S6 was unable to infect mutants with defects in the bacterial cellulose syn...

There is an imminent need to collect information on distribution and abundance of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) to understand how they are affected by the ongoing decrease in Arctic sea ice. The Kane Basin (KB) subpopulation is a group of high-latitude polar bears that ranges between High Arctic Canada and NW Greenland around and north of the North Water polynya (NOW). We conducted a line transect distance sampling aerial su...

Kane Basin (KB) is one of the world's most northerly polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) subpopulations, where bears have historically inhabited a mix of thick multiyear and annual sea ice year‐round. Currently, KB is transitioning to a seasonally ice‐free region because of climate change. This ecological shift has been hypothesized to benefit polar bears in the near‐term due to thinner ice with increased biological production, alt...

The distribution of genetic variation in species is governed by factors that act differently across spatial scales. To tease apart the contribution of different processes, especially at intermediate spatial scales, it is useful to study simple ecosystems such as those on sub‐Antarctic oceanic islands. In this study, we characterize spatial genetic patterns of two keystone plant species, Azorella selago on sub‐Antarctic Marion...

Summary Many questions regarding proteins involved in microbial sulfur metabolism remain unsolved. For sulfur respiration at low pH, the terminal electron acceptor is still unclear. Desulfurella amilsii is a sulfur‐reducing bacterium that respires elemental sulfur (S 0 ) or thiosulfate, and grows by S 0 disproportionation. Due to its versatility, comparative studies on D. amilsii may shed light on microbial sulfur metabolism....

Aim Pleistocene climatic oscillations induced range fluctuations in African rain forest organisms and may have shaped species diversification through allopatric speciation events. We compared the spatial genetic structure of two forest species that live in obligate symbiosis and thus must have experienced the same range fluctuations, as a means to discriminate incipient speciation from transient differentiation simply resultin...

Summary The depolymerase enzyme (DpoL1) encoded by the T7 ‐like phage L1 efficiently degrades amylovoran, an important virulence factor and major component of the extracellular polysaccharide ( EPS ) of its host, the plant pathogen E rwinia amylovora . Mass spectrometry analysis of hydrolysed EPS revealed that DpoL1 cleaves the galactose‐containing backbone of amylovoran. The enzyme is most active at p H 6 and 50° C , and feat...

Rapid climate changes are occurring in the A rctic, with substantial repercussions for arctic ecosystems. It is challenging to assess ecosystem changes in remote polar environments, but one successful approach has entailed monitoring the diets of upper trophic level consumers. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis ( QFASA ) and fatty acid carbon isotope (δ 13 C‐ FA ) patterns were used to assess diets of E ast G reenland...