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Temperate Forest Floors: Ecosystem Hubs in Transition?NARA Subscribed
The forest floor (FF) plays a key role in carbon, nutrient, and water cycling. It is the biologically most active compartment of forest soils, highly responsive to environmental conditions. Yet, its response to current changes in environmental conditions and forest management is understudied. Temperate forests are among the best studied ecosystems globally, providing the necessary ecological and biogeochemical background infor...
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder affecting millions of individuals worldwide and is strongly associated with inflammatory processes. Although pharmacological treatment remains the first-line approach, approximately one-third of patients are refractory to available therapies. Environmental enrichment (EE) has been shown to improve cognitive function, reduce stress, and enhance neuroplasticity, suggesting its potentia...
Making palaeoclimatology research policy‐relevant: Insights and experience from the DECADAL ProjectNARA Subscribed
Quaternary palaeoclimatology uniquely provides insights and new evidence about climate variability trends and extremes prior to the instrumental record; yet, its knowledge is rarely integrated into governmental decision‐making. This opinion piece shares lessons and experience from the UKRI‐funded DECADAL project, which bridges palaeoclimate science and policy through co‐production with UK climate services and policy institutio...
Aim We investigate the distribution of dispersal modes — endozoochory (via animal ingestion), synzoochory (via animal seed accumulation) and anemochory (via wind)—and seed mass of woody plants across Brazilian ecosystems, testing whether their relative abundance in local plant communities could be predicted by climate, edaphic factors and dispersal agents (e.g., the main vectors moving seeds). We expected climate to be the mai...
Contrasting cryptofaunal responses to seabird nutrient inputs illuminate coral reef productivity pathwaysNARA Subscribed
Nutrients moving across ecosystems can propagate through food webs via distinct trophic pathways. Their integration into food webs is often mediated by small, abundant taxa that channel subsidies from primary producers to higher trophic levels. On coral reefs, cryptobenthic fishes and invertebrates can fill these roles, yet their responses to allochthonous nutrients are poorly understood. We compared cryptofaunal communities a...
Peripheral microRNA signature in genetic frontotemporal dementia—findings from the GENFI initiativeNARA Subscribed
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by significant clinical and genetic heterogeneity, with approximately 40% of cases linked to hereditary genetic mutations, including MAPT , GRN , and C9ORF72 . Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as key regulators of cellular processes related to neurodegeneration and as potential biomarkers for FTD. However, their relevance in presymptomatic stag...
Chilling Consequences: Recruitment Failure of Four Native Fish Species in a Thermally Polluted, Regulated RiverNARA Subscribed
Cold water pollution (CWP), caused by the release of unseasonably cool water from the bottom of large reservoirs to downstream rivers, is an escalating global threat to riverine biodiversity that is exacerbated by future dam developments and climate change. This study examined the impact of CWP on native fish populations in the Severn River (NSW, Australia), downstream of a large reservoir. Long‐term data (2012–2024) revealed...
Drivers of Viral Diversity and Sharing in Marine MammalsNARA Subscribed
Knowledge of viral infection in marine mammals, a group severely threatened by human activity, is largely limited to the pathology and epidemiology of few endemic viruses. The recent emergence in marine mammals of high‐consequence viruses, such as H5N1 avian influenza and rabies, underscores the importance of understanding the ecology of viral transmission in these species. Metatranscriptomic approaches now enable relatively u...
Marine megafauna species are affected by a wide range of anthropogenic threats. To evaluate the risk of such threats, species’ vulnerability to each threat must first be determined. We build on the existing threats classification scheme and ranking system of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species by assessing the vulnerability of 256 marine megafauna species to 23 at‐sea threat...