Aim By moving beyond traditional biome‐centric approaches to sample continuously across a massive ecotone, we investigate how species richness, community composition, and dominance of woody plants change across a strong longitudinal precipitation gradient and identify thresholds in water availability that drive shifts in community assembly between tropical dry forests and rainforests. Location A longitudinal precipitation grad...

In wild animal populations, the prevalence of vector-borne parasites can be a serious threat if derived in disease, but extreme environments can act as natural refuges by restricting the presence of vectors and, consequently, reducing the transmission of vector-borne parasites. The Andean Condor ( Vultur gryphus ), a key scavenger of ecological significance and flagship conservation status, inhabits high-altitude regions where...

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...

Soil microbiomes are critical for ecosystem functioning, yet the global influences of climate and agricultural practices on their diversity and structure remain incompletely characterized. Here we analyzed 1921 soil samples from 33 countries worldwide across diverse biomes to assess how climate gradients and agricultural inputs, including pesticides and fertilizers, shape prokaryotic and fungal communities. We found that micro...

Introduction Small marine carnivores inhabiting fragmented rocky coastlines are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic pressures, yet mortality drivers in these systems remain poorly quantified. Methods We analyzed 22 years of carcass records (2003–2024) and standardized necropsies to evaluate the contribution of anthropogenic causes and their spatial and temporal patterns in marine otters ( Lontra felina ) from north-central C...

Age is a well-known risk factor to develop severe viral respiratory infections, including severe COVID-19. This study aimed to identify the biological alterations linked to severe disease in elderly patients with COVID-19. For this purpose, we employed a derivation cohort with 450 SARS-CoV-2 infected and unvaccinated patients admitted to hospital wards and a validation cohort with 244 SARS-CoV-2 infected and unvaccinated patie...

The anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility (AMS) in mudrocks has been widely used to study orogenic belts due to their sensitivity to strain, while paleomagnetism remains the most effective method to quantify vertical axis rotations (VARs) resulting from the accommodation of along-strike variations in shortening. However, AMS can be also eventually used as a passive marker to detect VARs and the integration of both techniqu...

Under the current global biodiversity crisis, there is a need for automated and noninvasive monitoring techniques that can gather large amounts of data cost‐effectively at various ecological scales, from local to large spatial scales. These data can then be analyzed to inform stakeholders and decision‐makers. One such technique is passive acoustic monitoring, which is commonly coupled with automatic identification of animal sp...