Dental mesowear is applied as a proxy to determine the general diet of mammalian herbivores based on tooth-cusp shape and occlusal relief. Low, blunt cusps are considered typical for grazers and high, sharp cusps typical for browsers. However, how internal or external abrasives impact mesowear, and the time frame the wear signature takes to develop, still need to be explored. Four different pelleted diets of increasing abrasiveness (lucerne, grass, grass and rice husks, grass, rice...

Predictions of species richness by island area are a classical cornerstone in ecology, while the specific features of barrier islands have been little appreciated. Many shorelines are occupied by barrier islands, which are shaped by offshore sedimentation processes and annual storm tide events. Hence, the appearance of these islands may vary between years if they are not protected by dykes. Here, we analyzed more than 2,990 species across 36 taxonomic groups (including vertebrates, invertebrates and...

1. Sedimentary pollen offers excellent opportunities to reconstruct vegetation changes over past millennia. Number of different pollen taxa or pollen richness is used to characterise past plant richness. To improve the interpretation of sedimentary pollen richness, it is essential to understand the relationship between pollen and plant richness in contemporary landscapes. This study presents a regional-scale comparison of pollen and plant richness from northern Europe and evaluates the importance of environmental variables on pollen and...

1. Many ecosystem functions depend on the structure of food webs, which heavily relies on the body size spectrum of the community. Despite that, little is known on how the size spectrum of soil animals responds to agricultural practices in tropical land-use systems and how these responses affect ecosystem functioning. 2. We studied land-use induced changes in belowground communities in tropical lowland ecosystems in Sumatra (Jambi province, Indonesia), a hotspot of tropical rainforest conversion to...

Managing agricultural landscapes to support biodiversity and ecosystem services is a key aim of a sustainable agriculture. However, how the spatial arrangement of crop fields and other habitats in landscapes impacts arthropods and their functions is poorly known. Synthesising data from 49 studies (1515 landscapes) across Europe, we examined effects of landscape composition (% habitats) and configuration (edge density) on arthropods in fields and their margins, pest control, pollination and yields. Configuration effects interacted with...

1.Ecosystem processes and the organisms involved are generally limited by the availability of one or more element in soil, an important phenomenon to consider for our understanding of ecosystem functioning and future changes. Especially in tropical forests, typically growing on nutrient depleted soils, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) or other limitations are assumed. However, large‐scale nutrient manipulation experiments revealed complex site‐specific patterns and several authors raised the need for novel approaches to reveal deeper mechanistic insights...

In Central Europe summer droughts are increasing in frequency which threatens production and biodiversity in agroecosystems. The potential of different farming systems to mitigate detrimental drought effects on soil animals is largely unknown. We investigated the effects of simulated drought on the abundance and community composition of soil microarthropods (Collembola, Oribatida, Meso­‑, Pro‑ and Astigmata) in winter wheat fields under long-term conventional and organic farming in the DOK trial, Switzerland. We simulated drought by excluding...

Aims: The rapid increase in the number of species that have naturalized beyond their native range is among the most apparent features of the Anthropocene. How alien species will respond to other processes of future global changes is an emerging concern and remains largely misunderstood. We therefore ask whether naturalized species will respond to climate and land-use change differently than those species not yet naturalized anywhere in the world. Location: Global Methods: We investigated future...

Forming strong social bonds can lead to higher reproductive success, increased longevity and/or increased infant survival in several mammal species. Given these adaptive benefits, understanding what determines partner preferences in social bonding is important. Maternal relatedness strongly predicts partner preference across many mammalian taxa. The role of paternal relatedness, however, has received relatively little attention, even though paternal and maternal kin share the same number of genes, and theoretically similar preferences would therefore be expected...

Technological advancement has lead to an increase in number and type of trading venues and diversification of goods traded. These changes have re-emphasized the importance of understanding the effects of market competition: does proliferation of trading venues and increased competition lead to dominance of a single market or coexistence of multiple markets? In this paper, we address these questions in a stylized model of Zero Intelligence traders who make repeated decisions at which of three...

Die Auswirkungen von Grundwasserentnahmen auf den Bodenwasserhaushalt, das Wachstum und die Vitalität von Wäldern sind durch ein geeignetes Beweissicherungsverfahren zu ermitteln. Die forstliche Beweissicherung muss konkrete Schritte beschreiben, um nachhaltig negative Wirkungen auf den Bodenwasserhaushalt, die Bodenvegetation sowie die langfristige forstliche Produktion zu ermitteln und angemessen auszugleichen oder zu entschädigen.

Als Pflanzengesellschaft des Jahres 2022 ist die Ackerwildkraut-Vegetation der Kalkäcker, der Ver- band Caucalidion, ausgewählt worden. In diesem Übersichtsartikel stellen wir den Verband vor und betrachten dabei seine Artenzusammensetzung und -diversität, Verbreitung, standörtliche und pflanzen- soziologische Variabilität, das Ökosystem „Kalkacker”, die früher und heute wirksamen Faktoren des Ackerbaus und die Ursachen des massiven Rückgangs in den letzten Jahrzehnten. Schließlich beleuch- ten wir Optionen zur Erhaltung und Wiederherstellung artenreicher Caucalidion-Vegetation und der von ihnen abhängigen Lebensgemeinschaften....

Microbial mediation is considered an important process for the formation of primary dolomite at ambient temperature. Yet, no structural, mineralogical, chemical or isotopic means exist to discern this mode of dolomite formation from secondary dolomite. To explore the utility of metal isotopes in allowing this distinction we characterize magnesium and calcium stable isotope ratios in primary (proto)dolomites from a modern hypersaline environment. Samples from the Khor Al-Adaid sabkhas in Qatar show consistent isotopic differences of...

We report data for nutrients in the organic layer and in mineral soil of Fagus sylvatica forests after P and N fertilization. We separated soil and roots and also report data for root biomass and nutrient contents in these soil layers. In addition, relative soil water contents and pH were measured. The samples were collected in three forests and repeatedly in spring and fall from 2016 to 2018.

Aim: Tropical forests are highly diverse at many spatial scales. In these forests, epiphytic bryophyte communities can be species-rich already within a few cm2, and their species numbers increase when expanding the sampling along the tree and the forest. Understanding how this diversity increase depends on scale and position within the tree is critical to evaluate the processes that maintain biodiversity. We, therefore, studied vertical zonation and alpha and beta diversity of epiphytic bryophytes across...

The increasing disturbances in monocultures around the world are testimony to their instability under global change. Many studies have claimed that temporal stability of productivity increase with species richness, although the ecological fundaments have mainly been investigated through diversity experiments. To adequately manage forest ecosystems, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the effect of mixing species on the temporal stability of productivity and the way in which this it is influenced by...

The experiment and results.

Osteoporosis is a worldwide disease that seriously affects the quality of life and survival rate of the elderly. The detection of bone biomarkers will provide supplementary information on bone mineral density, contributing to the accurate diagnosis of osteoporosis and better health care for prevention. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of oxidative stress markers—8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGsn) and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodGsn) in the assessment of osteoporosis. We conducted a cross-sectional study among menopausal women with a mean...

Aim: Species characteristics and cultivation are both associated with alien plant naturalization and invasiveness. Particular species characteristics are favored for cultivation, obscuring the relationship between traits and naturalization success. We sought to better understand the drivers of naturalization and invasiveness by analyzing relationships with species characteristics and cultivation and by disentangling the direct effects of characteristics from the indirect effects mediated by cultivation. Location: Great Britain Time period: c. 1000–present Major taxa studied: Seed plants...

Gastropods have survived several mass extinctions during their evolutionary history resulting in extraordinary diversity in morphology, ecology, and developmental modes, which complicate the reconstruction of a robust phylogeny. Currently, gastropods are divided into six subclasses: Caenogastropoda, Heterobranchia, Neomphaliones, Neritimorpha, Patellogastropoda, and Vetigastropoda. Phylogenetic relationships among these taxa historically lack consensus, despite numerous efforts using morphological and molecular information. We generated sequence data for transcriptomes derived from twelve taxa belonging to clades with little or no...

The aim of this study was to develop a gambogic acid-loaded mixed micelles (GA-M) system, using Kolliphor HS15 and lecithin, for enhancement of oral bioavailability. GA-M was prepared using the thin film hydration method, and particle size and zeta potential indexes were used to determine the optimized formulation was optimized with taking particle size, zeta potential as indexes. The optimal GA-M system had a mean particle size in the nanometer range (87.22 ± 0.68 nm)...

The incorporation of regional geologic knowledge is essential to solve multiple geological questions in any defined research area meaning that small-scale observations must fit with general regional interpretations as well as the tectonic and sedimentary setting. Conversely, in areas with sparse subsurface information, a conceptional knowledge of the observed area must be developed by incorporating and combining small-scale indications into a sound regional geologic model. In this contribution, we collect some of these small-scale “puzzle...

Late Cenozoic climate change led to the progressive aridification of Australia over the past 15 million years. This gradual biome turnover fundamentally changed Australia’s ecosystems, opening new niches and prompting diversification of plants and animals. One example are termites of the Australian Amitermes Group (AAG), consisting of the Australian Amitermes and affiliated genera. Although the most speciose and diverse higher termite group in Australia, little is known about its evolutionary history. We used ancestral range...

1. Apple is one of the most widely cultivated fruit crops worldwide, and apple yield benefits from pollination by insects. The global decline in wild pollinator populations raises concern about the adequacy of pollination services in apple production. 2. Here, we present a global meta-analysis of pollination in apple. We assembled from the literature a dataset comprising results of 48 studies across five continents on fruit set and seed set in apple with insect pollination,...

Carbonatites crystallize from mantle-derived carbonate- and volatile-rich melts that exsolve large amounts of fluids during their ascent through and emplacement into the crust. A global review of available fluid inclusion data for carbonatitic systems from variable emplacement depths identified four types of fluid inclusions: (type-I) vapour-poor H2O-NaCl fluids with <50 wt.% salinity; (type-II) vapour-rich H2O-NaCl-CO2 fluids with <5 wt.% salinity; (type-III) multi-component fluids with high salinity without CO2; and (type-IV) multi-component fluids with high salinity...