The spatial arrangement of individuals within plant populations is largely shaped by seed dispersal mechanisms, resulting in characteristic patterns of individual and genetic aggregation. These configurations can directly influence individual fitness, especially in insect-pollinated and self-incompatible species, where neighbourhood density and genetic relatedness may influence pollinator visitation and the likelihood of compatible mating events. In this study, we analysed a natural population of Moricandia moricandioides, a hermaphroditic, self-incompatible, and insect-pollinated species. All individuals in a 15 m×15 mM. moricandioides, contributing to our understanding of how ecological and genetic neighbourhoods shape plant reproductive strategies.
In studies of the germination of species with indehiscent fruits containing a single seed, it is often assumed that all ripe fruits contain a seed capable of germinating. This is not always the case, and through experiments with Salvia rosmarinus, we demonstrate that using data from seeded fruits allows for more robust and reliable conclusions to be drawn about the factors affecting reproduction or germination than when data from all fruits are used.
In studies on the reproduction and germination of species with indehiscent fruits containing a single seed, it is often assumed that all fruits that reach maturity contain a seed capable of generating a new plant. This is not always the case, and failing to take this into account can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the factors affecting reproduction or germination in plants.The research team illustrates this issue by analysing the effects of temperature, soil water potential and light exposure on the germination of Salvia rosmarinus
Fungal ecology is often studied using short fragments of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). These DNA fragments can approximate fungal species using different computational methods but the best choice is not clear. We analysed large, simulated fungal communities to overcome the limitations of experimental work and compare different analysis workflows. Our results identify the analysis choices which give the closest match to reality. This should help guide study design in fungal ecology.
To capture the complexity of fungal communities, microbial ecologists must often resort to amplicon sequencing. Amplicon sequences are obtained from the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), which is currently used as a marker for fungal taxonomic identity. Raw amplicon sequences are analysed using either amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) or operational taxonomic units (OTUs). However, these two approaches are conceptually different, and there is disagreement over which is more suitable for fungal sequence data.In order to address this problem, we used published fungal genomes to simulate amplicon sequencing of the ITS1 and ITS2 regions of fungal communities with diversity spanning 50 to 800 strains. These data were then analysed via six pipelines with differences at key steps in read processing and ASV/OTU retrieval. In addition, we confirmed the results with sequencing data from a previously published 189-strain mock community.Our results show that the choice between ASV and OTU has only a minor effect on the end result and that the most important step in the analysis pipeline is the extraction of the ITS region from the short-read sequences. Moreover, we recommend sequencing with as large a library size as possible, joining the reads to perform ITS extraction and then clustering the sequences into OTUs. We hope that this will help microbial ecologists choose the most appropriate approach to answer their specific questions.
Urban soil plays a fundamental role in supporting a range of ecosystem services important for both human health and urban resilience. While many ecosystem services rely on soil microbial communities, studies on urban soil microbes have remained scarce. A major complexity in understanding urban soil bacteria is the heterogeneity of soil throughout the city. In this study, we investigated the urban soil bacterial communities of street tree areas in relation to soil characteristics. We sampled soils under London plane trees at 20 street sites throughout the city of Antwerp (Belgium) and looked into the horizontal and vertical spatial variation in soil bacterial communities. Using 16S  rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we found great bacterial diversity (over 1800 bacterial genera) and heterogeneity in the urban soil of a single city. Our findings suggest that, first and foremost, urban soil community variation is determined by the sampling site, indicating that samples grouped together in space are more similar. Additionally, but to a smaller extent, the bacterial communities are affected by soil characteristics as is the case for non-urban soils. Significant relationships were observed between composition and soil pH, moisture, density, depth, air pollution, and land use class (all p< 0.01). We found that soils, especially those with relatively low moisture content in the city under study, showed a decline in soil bacterial biodiversity with decreasing moisture content (p= 0.047), indicating that soil moisture content may be an important aspect of sustainable urban soil management. Furthermore, soils under trees with a smaller circumference varied greatly in bacterial community composition relative to soils under trees with a bigger circumference, which were significantly more alike in bacterial composition. This indicates that, to better predict urban resilience, factors such as soil and vegetation development should be taken into account. In conclusion, we recommend including microbial soil diversity in urban sustainable soil management and focusing future urban soil research on understanding what the desired microbial functions and compositions for urban soils are.
Global nutrient cycles (biogeochemical flows of nitrogen and phosphorus; N, P) are at a tipping point. In aquatic systems, natural food webs facilitate nutrient digestion and decomposition, but nutrient assimilation is poor. The current approach to understanding and managing nutrient cycles in aquatic systems needs to integrate animal nutritionist thinking. It is not the supply or stoichiometry of elements (carbon (C), N, P) in the food web but the supply and stoichiometry of specific biomolecular packages in which they come (aka Rings of Power) that decides the state of nutrient cycles (slow/fast, low/high) in all trophic levels above primary producers. Animal nutritionists often maximize N and P retention efficiency in animal production systems by expanding the scope of homeostatic control of nutrient deposition in animals. By spiking specific biomolecular packages in the diet (e.g., Rings of Power, such as specific amino acids, lipid classes, carbohydrate subfractions like starch), it is possible to alleviate energy–nutrient transfer barriers from food to biomass. Under the influence of “Rings of Power”, free N and P excretion is minimized and protein (N-bound), phospholipid, and apatite-rich (P-bound) biomass is maximized. Combining such expertise with food web (plankton) ecology, we can develop nature-based, regenerative aquaculture solutions in hypertrophic inland standing waterbodies (which accumulate nutrients) to slow down N and P cycles by curbing the metabolic N and P throughput of consumer communities (omnivorous fish, zooplankton) and suppress eutrophication.
Hedgerows are key components in the ecological functionality of mid-western European agricultural landscapes that have seen significant decline in the last 100 years due to intensive agriculture management. These infrastructures promote certain species in and around themselves that contribute to ecosystem services and disservices in farmland that have great socioeconomic fallouts. Few studies have explored how hedgerows shape biological communities and ecosystem (dis)services. Particularly, no study seems to have focused on ants (Formicidae). In the present research work, we explored the effects of both the distance from and management of hedgerows on ant communities. Ants were sampled in Allier, France, using 300 pitfall traps set at five different distances from 20 different hedgerows, categorized as either shrubby or arboreal. To perform taxonomic and functional analysis, we identified ants at the species level and built a functional traits database. We first observed that species richness was higher in arboreal hedgerows compared to shrubby ones. Factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) and redundancy analysis (RDA) also revealed a distance gradient, with greater compositional differences between communities near the hedgerows than those further away. Three functional indices, functional evenness (FEve), functional mean nearest neighbor distance (FNND) and functional dispersion (FDis), were correlated either with the distance gradient or the hedgerow type (arboreal or shrubby). We then identified several functional response traits that drive the functional diversity differences, such as behavioral dominance, worker polymorphism and colony foundation type. Four effect traits we presumed to be ecosystem (dis)services were studied and three of them – soil tilling, insect predation and aphid breeding/nectar thief – were affected in different ways by the distance from and management of hedgerows. This study offers valuable insights into how hedgerows shape agrobiodiversity, generally promoting outcomes beneficial to agriculture. While arboreal hedgerows may support greater ant diversity, shrubby hedgerows appear to provide (dis)services more closely aligned with agroecosystem needs. As a significantly more resilient alternative to intensive agricultural practices, which also threaten biodiversity, we argue that hedgerows will hold a strategic role in the necessary agroecological transition.
Background and aims:Scope:Results:Conclusions:
Climate change may reduce available habitat for native species, while simultaneously increasing suitable habitat for invasive species, which then compete with or predate on native species. Thus, climate change and invasive species can interact synergistically to negatively affect native species. It is important to identify climate refugia that are likely to be both suitable for native species and unsuitable for invasive species, under both present and future climate conditions. We propose a refugia habitat metric (RHM) based on ecological niche modelling. We demonstrate the utility of the metric via a case study of an endemic freshwater crayfish, or kōura (Paranephrops planifrons), which is threatened by both climate change and predation from the invasive brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) in Aotearoa / New Zealand. We used maximum entropy (MaxEnt) ecological niche models to predict current and future habitat suitability for the two species across Aotearoa / New Zealand. By the period 2080–2100, suitable habitat will increase across the northern and western North Island for catfish, while suitable habitat for kōura will decrease overall and shift southwards and towards more mountainous regions. Using the refugia habitat metric, we identified areas of habitat within the current range of kōura, with significant potential refugia habitat outside the species current range. Using the refugia prioritization metric will allow conservation managers to identify habitat for protection and potentially translocation target sites for vulnerable native species.
Reproductive behavior in sharks remains poorly understood, with direct observations of mating reported in only a few species. The blue shark (Prionace glauca) is a widely distributed, placental viviparous species, yet direct evidence of mating behavior remains undocumented. Here, we describe the first visual documentation of a putative mating attempt involving blue sharks in the Bay of Biscay, off the Basque coast, observed during a shark ecotourism dive in July 2023. An adult male and an immature female exhibited a sequence of behaviors consistent with shark courtship, including parallel swimming, following, a courtship bite, and an inversion of both individuals. Additionally, we documented females with mating scars across 4 consecutive years, the majority of which were considered immature. These observations align with prior reports suggesting mating attempts between adult males and immature females. The combination of direct behavioral observation and repeated evidence of mating scars highlights the potential reproductive significance of the region and underscores the need for further research on the demographics, habitat use, and reproductive ecology of blue sharks in the Northeast Atlantic.
Citizen science, where participants from outside of academia contribute to data collection or analysis, is an important approach in ecological studies that can significantly improve both modelling outcomes and community participation. However, all ecological citizen science platforms developed to date rely on centralised server architecture for data storage and communication with citizen scientists, which can lead to unsustainable server maintenance costs for project managers as well as data sovereignty issues for the concerned communities, thereby endangering project resilience and sustainability after the end of a funded project. Distributed databases, which rely on peer-to-peer technology to store and share data, can address these concerns, but they are complex and conceptually different from centralised systems. As such, their use involves a very steep learning curve that hinders their adoption by citizen science practitioners in ecology, where neither project leaders nor end users are experts in peer-to-peer technologies. In this article, the authors use formal and open-ended feedback from workshops with academics to discuss how well-planned user interface design can be used to facilitate the adoption of peer-to-peer distributed databases in citizen science and provide generalisable key recommendations for the implementation of user interfaces in citizen science applications. In particular, we discuss several key conceptual differences between centralised and distributed applications, such as key-pair authentication and eventual consistency, that must be efficiently and visually communicated to end users. While there is extremely limited literature available on user interface design for distributed systems (and none so far in the ecological field), we find that lessons learned from other fields transfer well to the field of ecological citizen science, that well-designed user interfaces are key to the adoption of new technologies, and that simplicity and efficiency in interface design are more important than showing average users the details of how the underlying technology works. We propose these recommendations as a blueprint for future research and development of citizen science applications based on peer-to-peer distributed database technologies.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been conducting horizon scanning (HS) activity in the field of plant health, in collaboration with the EC Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), since 2017. As of 2024, this activity has produced 130 reports, named newsletters. The aim of this activity is to capture signals from the web about potential threats caused by plant pests from all around the world and to convey them to European Union risk managers in support of their preparedness and timely reactions. The tool used was the Medical Information System (MedISys), a public health surveillance system that continuously monitors the content of more than 3200 scientific and media sources worldwide. The items selected for inclusion in the monthly newsletters are reviewed and validated by a team of experts, while another team carries out further analysis on specific “not-listed” pests. This analysis, PeMoScoring (short for pest and monitoring scoring), is a fast procedure based on a ranking system that warns risk managers of the potential new threats by unknown or not-listed pests. These signals can then trigger actions by risk managers: requests for more assessments by EFSA or facilitation of preventive measures. Recently, a series of workshops and webinars have been organised to foster collaboration among institutions engaged in horizon scanning activities in the field of plant health and to broaden the applicability of this service to other contexts and areas of focus. This article presents an analysis of the data collected from the newsletters, along with a detailed examination of the PeMoScoring outcomes and potential directions for future development. The results highlight the potential of horizon scanning tools in the prevention of emerging threats for plant health and their capacity to support risk management decisions by anticipating challenges and facilitating timely interventions.
Some wildlife species can successfully adapt to urban environments. To prevent potential conflict of these species with humans or their pets, a better understanding of the presence of urban wildlife is needed. However, traditional monitoring methods are often inadequate because many privately owned properties are inaccessible. In this study, we analyse reports of European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeusE. roumanicus)Meles meles) provided by two long-term citizen science projects in the city of Vienna, Austria – stadtwildtiere.at and roadkill.at – to assess habitat preferences and potential ecological interactions. Vienna has a human population of about 2×106km2, 50 % of which is green space in the form of forests, parks and private gardens. A total of 356 hedgehog and 918 badger sightings were reported between 2012 and 2023. Sightings of both species were positively associated with a mix of sealed/built-up areas and green spaces with meadows and shrubs. However, sightings of both species were negatively associated with arable land, most likely due to the avoidance of open terrain, reduced food availability or simply because both nocturnal species were more difficult to spot on dark arable land. The steeper the slope of a habitat, the fewer hedgehogs were reported, whereas for badgers, a positive correlation between slope and reports was observed in areas with built-up fractions over 15 %. Overall, we observed hardly any hedgehog reports in areas in which badgers were reported. We conclude that citizen science wildlife monitoring can be a good data source to better understand human–wildlife interactions and could therefore be a model for other urban areas and species.
Transfer function (TF) models are commonly used in palaeoecology for quantitative inference of environmental variables based on biological proxies. Although the existence of spatial structure is well established in ecology, existing TFs do not account for it. This suggests that model performance may be improved by accounting for spatial structure. Here we demonstrate this using basic and advanced methods – multiple linear regression (MLR), lasso regression, geographically weighted regression (GWR) and geographically weighted lasso (GWL) – using geographical distance and bioclimatic distance, respectively. We compared the performance of these models for reconstructing water table depth from testate amoeba communities, as commonly used in peatland palaeoecology. GWL and lasso models performed considerably better (23 %–30 % reduction in mean squared prediction error) than standard weighted average methods. We provide an R package for the two innovative spatial methods (GWR and GWL).
Since the end of the Little Ice Age (ca. 1855), glaciers retreated in the Alps, leaving new ground for genuine primary succession. The patterns and processes of glacier forefield succession have been studied globally for decades. Surprisingly, no such analysis exists from the Northern Limestone Alps. We therefore initiated a monitoring scheme with permanent plots to study plant succession and vegetation assembly at four forefields, namely the Hallstätter Glacier, Großer Gosau Glacier (both at Dachstein massif, Austria), Watzmann Glacier, and Blaueis (both at Berchtesgaden National Park, Germany), which is abbreviated as the BDGF (Berchtesgaden-Dachstein Glacier Forefield) platform. The aim of the long-term research envisaged and performed in this platform is to get a better understanding of the vegetation succession and community assembly in the glacier forefield development of the Northern Limestone Alps, using a multidisciplinary approach. Here, we introduce the basic characteristics of the BDGF platform; i.e. we describe the monitoring network, the observational design, and the methodological approaches. We present the baseline vegetation characteristics, and we outline the studies already initiated or to be performed in the near future. The methodology encompasses a chronosequence approach, where plots, using a frequency grid frame of 1 m × 1 m, are placed in specific successional stages (related to age classes since deglaciation). We show that, as expected, species richness and cover increase with age. Unexpectedly, though, these processes seem to be much slower than what has been observed in the Central Alps on siliceous substrates. We suggest that this could be due to the geological substrate, i.e. its chemistry as well as its karstic conditions, but also due to the morphology of the terrain, which hardly enables species colonization from above (i.e. following gravity) but mainly from below.
Widely recognized as a major threat to marine biodiversity, invasive species have become a fundamental global concern. With over 500 alien species identified in the Mediterranean alone, European seas are particularly susceptible to the potential ecological and economic threats of invasives. The rate of marine species introductions in the European Union (EU) continues to increase, with climate change facilitating their spread and impact. Crabs and other crustaceans are among the most successful groups of marine invasives and can have significant negative ecological and economic impacts where they become established. To assess the ecological and economic threats posed by these species and to develop monitoring, early response, and mitigation plans, it is important to be able to determine which areas are at highest risk of further range expansion, especially under expected climate scenarios. We studied the current and future distributions of four predatory brachyuran crabs that were previously identified as species of concern for European seas, namely Hemigrapsus sanguineus, Charybdis longicollis,Matuta victor, and Portunus segnis, under various climate change scenarios. Species distribution models were built using an ensemble modelling approach. The results show that the potential distributions for all species are much larger than the current known distributions. Under all predicted climate change scenarios, the climatic conditions for P. segnis, C. longicollis, and M. victor, in particular, are expected to improve in most of the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in an expansion of suitable habitat. The Adriatic and Aegean seas are of particular concern as results indicate that these seas are not only highly suitable under current climatic conditions but also will become more suitable under all climate scenarios. It is, therefore, important to further investigate potential impacts, to increase monitoring, and to explore possible management strategies for these seas in order to manage the invasion of these species and avoid future biodiversity and economic losses.
Global warming is profoundly impacting northern ecosystems, particularly those underlain by permafrost. Permafrost-affected peat plateaus, called palsa peatlands, consist of mounds with peat and mineral soil covering ice lenses. When permafrost thaws, palsas can collapse and undergo significant hydrological changes to form wet mires. This affects the physical structure of the soil and as a result, the communities of soil-dwelling organisms, such as nematodes. Although the role of nematodes in carbon cycling is not fully understood, they can influence greenhouse gas emissions through interactions with plants and microbes. This study examined the effects of palsa degradation and experimental warming on nematode feeding guilds (bacterivores, fungivores, root feeders, and omni-carnivores) in northern Norway, where permafrost is rapidly thawing. Our findings showed that intact, vegetated palsas supported higher abundances of all nematode feeding guilds. With warming, bacterivorous and omni-carnivorous nematodes were negatively affected. Additionally, we observed a shift in dominance of bacterivores to fungivores over the summer, suggesting a temporal shift in the predominant decomposition pathway. No direct relationships were found between changes in any of the guild abundances and measured CO24
In natural ecosystems, many species engage simultaneously in both trophic and non-trophic interactions (NTIs), influencing each other's population growth and patterns of local coexistence. However, in coastal marine systems, where the larvae of most benthic adults disperse and frequently settle into populations distant from their origin, populations do not experience feedback from local reproduction. This implies an apparent decoupling between local dynamics and regional-scale dispersal processes. Here, we explore the consequences of positive NTIs for the coexistence and dynamics of a predator and its prey. Inspired by two species studied in the Chilean intertidal zone, we developed a predator–prey model in which the prey also facilitates the recruitment of and provides refuge to the predator, while larval subsidies externally control the population growth of both species. The predator–prey dynamic was simulated at different levels of species recruitment, with and without NTIs. Overall, NTIs led to density dependence of the predator on the prey, coupling their abundances across varying levels of larval subsidies. Furthermore, the impact of NTIs on predator abundance was non-additive, with the magnitude of these effects depending on recruitment rates. In addition to determining population growth, recruitment rates also modulate the extent to which the predator is facilitated by the prey. These results suggest that incorporating NTIs into dynamic models and ecological theory is necessary for a more complete understanding of the mechanisms of species coexistence and spatial variability. This knowledge is critical for understanding ecosystem responses to ongoing climate and global changes.
Braided rivers are dynamic ecosystems with constantly shifting flow patterns that create diverse habitats, supporting species highly adapted to frequent flooding and gravel relocation. Arthropods inhabiting these areas use various strategies to survive floods, including migration, hiding, and physiological adaptations like flying or surviving submerged. This study aims to assess whether certain riverbank areas act as refuges during floods and to determine if dominant arthropod species actively or passively respond to rising water levels, with implications for the conservation of these ecosystems. This study focused on the spatial distribution and flood response of two spider species and two beetle species in a gravel bank area along the upper Isar (Germany). Species distributions were recorded under normal conditions and compared to their distribution after a flood event, using 203 sampling squares. In addition, an artificial flood experiment was conducted to observe species behaviour under rising water. Flooding significantly altered the distribution of the studied species, with many individuals relocating to higher areas like slopes during peak flood and scattering across the exposed gravel bar once waters receded. In an artificial flood experiment, individuals initially took refuge in gravel but eventually crossed the water's surface to escape rising water levels, showing varied survival behaviours like floating on stones or paddling to safety. The study highlights the critical role of accessible elevated areas and riverbanks as refuges for arthropods during flooding, with 39 % of individuals actively utilizing these sites in response to rising water levels. The findings emphasize that riverbanks and elevated areas must be preserved and managed effectively, as they provide vital refuge conditions for arthropod communities, ultimately fostering ecological resilience in natural river systems.
Climate change can have severe impacts on tree species distributions. Models consistently show that tree species will follow climate towards higher elevations and latitudes. This has various effects on forest ecosystems. Forests have a slow dynamic compared to other ecosystems and are affected severely by tree species distribution shifts. Forested conservation areas with limited management reveal a slow adaptation process to a changing climate. In this study, we have modelled and analysed the effect of possible tree species distribution shift in Norway spruce (Picea abies), European beech (Fagus sylvatica), and two oak species (Quercus petraeaQuercus robur), considered jointly on forested Natura 2000 sites, an EU-wide conservation area network. The modelling procedure was performed using 3 to 4 bio-climatic variables derived from 26 variables of the EURO-CORDEX Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) climate simulations for the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 until 2098. Our results reveal a severe decline in Picea18 %−18 %15 %Quercus23 %−23 %24 %Fagus8 %−7 %9 %
Pollinating insects are essential for crops and wild plants, but their populations are declining due to habitat loss. Here we compared two methods for sampling pollinators: insect nets and pan traps. Both methods were effective but captured different pollinators: nets collected more bumblebees, while pan traps caught more solitary bees. Data from each method also showed different responses to the landscape, suggesting that both methods are needed for better conservation strategies.
Pollinator insects are essential for the pollination of many crops and wild plants. Recent declines in insect population pose significant challenges for maintaining pollination services. Habitat loss and landscape homogenization are among the primary drivers of these declines. In order to monitor and assess populations of pollinating insects, precise and accurate methods are required. A common method to collect pollinators is pan traps, but this method suffers from a bias due to surrounding flower frequency, yet this remains untested at the large spatial scale such as the landscape. Understanding how different pollinator sampling methods reflect the impact of landscape composition on pollinator communities is critical for designing robust monitoring schemes that can lead to effective conservation strategies. This study investigates how two common pollinator sampling methods – insect nets and pan traps – measure the abundance, diversity, and composition of pollinator communities in sweet-cherry orchards (Prunus avium) in Belgium. The study also examines how pollinator data obtained by these methods relate to the surrounding landscape, specifically the amount of seminatural habitat and intensive fruit cultivation. We conclude that both methods provided similar sampling efficiencies, yet they captured different subsets of the pollinator community. Insect nets caught a higher abundance and species richness of bumblebees, while pan traps caught higher solitary bee abundance, and hoverfly abundance and richness were unaffected. The pollinator data also exhibited different responses to landscape composition as a function of the sampling method. These findings suggest that different sampling methods yield complementary insights into pollinator communities and their interactions with the landscape. Therefore, integrating both methods in future monitoring schemes is recommended to obtain comprehensive data on pollinator diversity and abundance, aiding in the assessment of pollinator population trends and the development of evidence-based conservation strategies.