Phase shifts can occur in ecosystems because of external stressors. Such transitions from one state (e.g., clear water, seagrass) to another (e.g., phytoplankton blooms, bare substrate) continue to be documented worldwide. In estuaries, stressors related to urban and suburban development are often implicated in phase shifts, including altered hydrology and eutrophication. Tidal creeks may be especially prone to phase shifts as...

Reef-building corals are under pressure to acclimatize and/or adapt to multiple co-occurring stressors, including climate change and declines in water quality. However, their capacity to do so is largely unknown. Yet, some corals naturally persist in habitats with multi-stressor conditions which can provide crucial insight into coral adaptive capacity under future ocean conditions. To assess the role of phenotypic plasticity a...

Subnational entities such as states and provinces differ markedly in their material use, waste generation, and emissions due to variations in resource endowments, industrial structures, and living standards. These differences create distinct sustainability challenges that require regionally tailored policy responses. Yet, the development of comprehensive subnational datasets and indicators, including circular-economy metrics,...

Mercury (Hg), and specifically methylmercury (MeHg), is a contaminant of global concern to humans and wildlife, but there is still limited understanding of its effects on many taxa. Amphibians are closely associated with water, where Hg is converted to MeHg, and high concentrations of MeHg can reduce survival of amphibians in the wild. However, limited non-lethal proxies exist for estimating MeHg bioaccumulation in amphibian l...

Conservation translocations require careful assessment of dietary resources to ensure population viability. Here, we used environmental DNA metabarcoding to characterise fungal assemblages across three major habitat types on Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia, prior to the planned reintroduction of two threatened mycophagous species: the boodie ( Bettongia lesueur ) and woylie ( Bettongia ogilbyi ). We detected 243 fungal A...

Gelatinous zooplankton are abundant in marine ecosystems, yet their trophic roles and functional diversity in food webs have only recently gained attention. Gelatinous zooplankton taxa including hydromedusae, ctenophores, siphonophores, chaetognaths, and pelagic tunicates span multiple phyla and are often grouped taxonomically, but trait‐based categorizations have emerged as an ecologically meaningful alternative. Considering...

Accelerated biodiversity loss due to anthropogenic factors has led some researchers to suggest Earth may be approaching a 6 th mass extinction event. While artificial intelligence (AI) cannot counteract this biodiversity loss directly, AI has seen an increased adoption as a powerful tool for marine biodiversity monitoring, particularly by enabling the rapid and efficient collection and processing of large volumes of highly acc...

Age-related decline in left ventricular (LV) diastolic function is a hallmark of cardiac aging and an early precursor to cardiovascular disease. While dyslipidemia is a known driver of coronary heart disease (CHD), the molecular pathways linking lipid metabolism to cardiac aging and subsequent CHD risk remain poorly understood. Furthermore, longitudinal lipidomic profiling of cardiac aging in large human populations has not be...

Animals that acquire beneficial microbial symbionts from their environment risk acquiring a sub‐optimal partner, or no partner at all. The leaffooted bug Leptoglossus zonatus (Coreidae) acquires its Caballeronia (Burkholderiaceae) bacterial symbiont from the environment, presumably from local soil. Despite large contributions to the bug's fitness, young nymphs must re‐acquire the symbiont every generation. To understand how th...

Aim To investigate the historical processes underlying the assembly of the flora of the Chocó region, with a focus on the relative contributions of dispersal and in situ speciation. Using Inga (Leguminosae) as a model lineage, we evaluate the origin and diversification of species present in the Chocó. Location The Chocó region, a lowland rainforest located across southern Panama, the Pacific coast of Colombia, the Magdalena hu...